


Dearly Beloved

by ARtheBard



Series: JEmily Forever [6]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-25 12:02:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 27,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10763880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARtheBard/pseuds/ARtheBard
Summary: With their nuptials just days away and Emily trying to re-connect with her parents, JJ and Emily join the team on a case involving a possible terrorist cell.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This starts out a couple months after “Don’t Mess With Exes.” The wedding is fast approaching!!! Hopefully our BAU agents can stay out of trouble. But probably not. ;o)

“TOUCHDOWN! YES!” Jennifer Jareau leaps up and down in the luxury box at FedEx Field. She is high-fiving all the people crowded up at the windows as the Redskins take on their NFC East foes the New York Giants. She starts to rehash the play with a couple of the guys up there as they watch the in-suite TV screen showing the instant replays.

Leaning against the wall at the back of the box, Emily Prentiss just smiles and sips her wine. Her mother stands beside her, chuckling.

“She really loves football, doesn’t she?”

“Mother, our wedding was planned around the Redskins bye week. What do you think?” Emily jokes.

They watch as JJ and the men up front gather around the window for the ensuing kick off. Elizabeth glances at Emily.

“You know those men are all dying to ask her out,” she states.

Emily smiles smugly. “Yep. But she’s mine and I know it.”

Elizabeth nudges her daughter’s arm. “Now, now, Emily, conceit is not ladylike.”

“Pfft…when have I ever been ladylike, Mother?” Emily laughs.

Elizabeth pretends to think about it. “Well, there was that time when you were 4…”

“My point exactly.” Emily takes another sip of wine.

“Are you getting nervous?” Elizabeth asks.

“About what?” Emily responds, confused.

“Your wedding! I remember being a nervous wreck before I married your father.”

Emily turns and looks at her mother. “Really? You are always so…so controlled. I figured it was just another appointment to keep for you.”

Elizabeth smiles. “To anyone looking it was just another day for me. But inside I was all butterflies. I wanted it to be perfect.”

“Why?”

“Why?” Elizabeth echoes. Emily nods. Elizabeth considers her answer for a moment. “Well, because I had always had this image in my head of just how the day would go and I had done everything I could to make it so. But at some point I had to put it in somebody else’s hands and trust it would all happen. I’m not very good at trusting others.”

Emily nods, looking at her mother sympathetically. “That’s really sad, Mom. I hope…I hope that’s changed for you.”

Elizabeth takes Emily’s hand and squeezes. “I’m trying to change it, Emily. I really am. And I think it’s helped getting to know the Jareau’s. They really don’t care about the whole ‘Prentiss’ thing. It’s really quite refreshing.”

Emily chuckles. “I know what you mean. They accepted me with open arms. And even after…” her face darkens a bit, “…after Weston…they still love me. Did I tell you that Alan said he already considers me his daughter?” Emily’s eyes glisten with tears.

Elizabeth smiles and rubs her arm. “Yes. He told me, too. He’s a wonderful man. I wish your father could have been like him.”

The two watch JJ for a couple minutes. After a sup of wine, Emily glance at her mother. “Do you ever talk to Dad?” Emily asks softly.

Elizabeth shrugs. “Only if I have to. Emily, I cared for your father. Part of me always will because I have you. But I never loved him the way you love Jennifer. I’m glad you refused all our attempts to set you up with men from the so-called right families. Even if you had been straight I have a feeling you’d be marrying a man just like Jennifer.”

Emily looks back down at the blonde, who is again discussing play strategy with a couple of guys. She smiles, a wave a love washing over her. “Trust me, Mom, there is no one like Jennifer.”

Elizabeth gives Emily a hug. “I know, dear. I know. Come on, let’s top off our wine glasses. Can’t let all this free stuff go to waste.”

Emily chuckles and follows her mother over to the wet bar in the suite. At half time, JJ drops down into a seat beside Emily.

“This game is awesome! They are actually  _winning_!”

Emily smiles at JJ. “Maybe you’re their good luck charm.”

“Maybe I am. Thank you for this, Elizabeth. I can’t tell you how much I am enjoying the game and the box and, well, everything,” JJ says sincerely. The media liaison had been beyond excited when Elizabeth had offered a chance to watch the game from the box of an old friend.

“My pleasure, JJ,” Elizabeth responds, patting JJ’s hand. “I think this is the first time I’ve had fun at one of these games and it’s because of how happy you are.”

“Thank you,” JJ smiles. She then leans forward and gives Emily a quick kiss. “I need food now.”

She gets up and heads over to fill a plate. Emily looks over at some of the guys who had been drooling over JJ. She winks and gives them an “eat your heart out” look. Disappointed, they turn and walk away.

“Emily, that look was down right cruel.” Elizabeth leans towards her and winks conspiratorially. “I loved it!”

Emily and Elizabeth are still laughing when JJ returns. The three women eat and chat until the second half is ready to begin. JJ grabs another beer and heads back to her spot at the window. Emily was content to just watch her but someone steps in front of her. She hears her mother’s intake of breath. Emily looks up and pales.

“Father.”


	2. Chapter 2

It is like a sixth sense. JJ is engrossed in the latest charge to the goal line when the hair on the back of her neck stands up. She turns and sees Emily and Elizabeth both staring up at a man in a black suit. Emily stands and is pulled into a hug by the man. JJ can’t tell if the look on Emily’s face is fear or shock or both.

“Excuse me, guys,” she steps past her new friends.

“But, JJ, the ‘Skins are gonna score!”

“I’ll catch the replay,” she says and makes her way to the Prentiss women. She gets there in time to hear Emily ask a question of the man.

“When did you get back to the States, Father?”

JJ’s eyes widen. “ _Father_?” she thinks to herself.

“A few days ago. I was actually a few boxes over when I heard your mother was here. I wasn’t expecting you but it’s a pleasant surprise.” He looks beyond Emily to the still seated Elizabeth. “Good to see you, Liz. I’ve missed you.”

“What’s the matter,” she asks quietly, “did your latest girlfriend graduate college and leave you?”

“Mo-ther…” Emily says warningly.

“It’s okay, Emily. I deserved that. Actually, I haven’t dated anyone in quite awhile. Look I don’t want to ruin the game but, Elizabeth, perhaps I can call you? I’d love to…to talk.”

Elizabeth stares up at him. Despite what she had told Emily, at one time she really did love this man. But her pride won’t let her give in to memories. “You can contact my secretary. I’ll see if I can pencil you in before I go back to Rome.”

He smiles. “Good. I’m being stationed at Vatican City for the next year so if we don’t catch up to each other here maybe when you get back to Rome?”

Elizabeth shrugs. “Maybe.”

He just nods. He turns back to Emily. “I heard a rumor you’re getting married. Who’s the lucky man?”

Emily is sure her father knows the truth. “The lucky man is a woman.” She reaches her hand out beyond him to JJ. “Father, meet SSA Jennifer Jareau, my fiancé and mother to my stepson.”

He turns back in surprise. He had obviously known about JJ but Henry was a surprise. “Stepson? I’m going to be a grandpa?”

“Um, yes, I guess you are, Father.”

He turns back to JJ, a new look of respect in his eyes. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Agent Jareau.” He extends his hand, which JJ accepts.

“You, too, sir,” she responds, trying to read the man.

“Well, I must get back to my box.” He nods to the women in turn. “Agent Jareau, Emily, Liz.”

As he turns to go, Emily surprises them all by blurting out. “Will you come to my wedding?”

He stops and slowly turns. He smiles and for the first time it reaches his eyes. “Yes, Emily, I will. I’ll see you then.”

“Don’t you need to know when?”

He chuckles. “October 17. It’s already on my calendar.”

Emily raises a suspicious eyebrow. “This was a set-up, wasn’t it?”

He shakes his head. “No, I promise it wasn’t. I had planned to call you before I went back overseas. I know I have been a less than perfect parent, Emily, but I want a chance to know you before I lose you forever. Can I please ask for that chance?”

JJ squeezes Emily’s hand. Emily looks at JJ and then her mother. Finally she looks at her father. “I think I can give you a chance.”

He smiles and nods. “Thank you, Emily. Good day, ladies.”

Emily turns to her mother. “He seems…different.”

“People change, Emily. I’d like to think I have changed for the better. Maybe he has, too.”

Emily slowly nods. “Maybe.” She looks at JJ. “You better get back over there, Good Luck Charm. The ‘Skins just fumbled on the goal line.”

JJ smiles and stares into Emily’s eyes. “You needed my luck more than them. I hope it worked for you.”

Emily smiles and kisses her nose. “Me, too.”

Two hours later Emily, JJ and Elizabeth are in the limo heading back to D.C. JJ is still lamenting the new quarterback she had been hailing who seemed to forget what color his team was wearing in the second half.

“Three interceptions in the third quarter! It’s not like his college team wore Blue and Red and he was confused! How hard is it to hit the guys in maroon and gold?”

Elizabeth looks at Emily. “Is she like this after every game?”

“The way the ‘Skins have been playing lately, yes.” The Prentiss’ laugh as JJ lapses into silence. Emily looks over and grins. “You’re so cute when you pout.”

“Watch it, Agent Prentiss, or you’ll have the biggest inbox stack of cases ever seen.”

Elizabeth laughs. Emily hushes her mother. “Don’t laugh. She means it!”

Elizabeth looks at JJ and pats her on the knee. “Oh you have her trained so good!”

JJ just grins proudly.


	3. Chapter 3

The next month seems to fly by. Three tough cases right on top of each other had left the team tired and looking forward to the weekend. On this Friday, Hotch had told them they could leave as soon as they clear their desks. At 2:23 Emily opens her last case file. She has just finished reading about 3 dismembered women found posed in a park when her phone rings.

“Prentiss.”

“Hello, Emily.”

She stiffens. “Father. Hello.”

She sees Reid look up in surprise. She had not spoken to her father since the Redskins game but Reid and Morgan had both heard the story. They had been quietly hoping the man would again reach out to their friend.

“Emily, I was hoping we could meet for dinner tonight. Agent Jareau is also invited. I’d like to get to know you before your wedding.”

Emily glances down at her calendar. It’s October 2 and now he wants to get to know her? “I, um, will have to ask Jen, Father. We’re getting off early today and I’m not sure if she wants to head up to her parents’ for the weekend for last minute wedding stuff.”

“Oh, of course. Well, when you know give me a call. If not tonight, maybe when you get back on Sunday?”

“Maybe. It could be late. I don’t know. I just…we’ll see, Father.”

“Okay.” He gives Emily is cell number. “I hope to hear from you soon, Emily.”

“I’ll get back to you when I know something. Bye, Father.”

She slowly hangs up the phone. She looks up and sees Reid staring at her. “You okay?” He asks compassionately.

“I’m not sure. I’m no longer thinking pod people took over my parents. I’m thinking clones: Exact replicas that have independent thought.”

Reid chuckles. “Want the top 100 reasons why that’s not possible?”

“No, Reid, please leave me to my fantasy,” she answers with a smile. The genius could always help settle her nerves. She decides this would be a good time for a break. She heads over to JJ’s office and taps on the door. “Got a minute?”

“Sure. Come on in.” JJ closes the file in front of her and gives all her attention to Emily. She can see her lover is nervous about something.

Emily walks in and sits down in one of the chairs in front of her desk. “Do you still want to head up to your parent’s this weekend?”

“I don’t think so. Henry still has the sniffles. I don’t want him to get really sick before the wedding. It’s probably best we stay home. Besides if I go up there I may start making changes again and my mother, your mother, or you will throttle me. Maybe all 3 of you together,” she says laughing.

Emily laughs. “That is very true.” Emily’s smile fades and she seems to be very interested in a spot on the front of JJ’s desk. Was it really fair to JJ to bring potential turmoil into their life right before the wedding? What if things went badly? What if he hadn’t changed? JJ frowns.

“Emily, what’s wrong?”

The brunette looks up into blue eyes she could get lost in forever. When she sees the worry there she shakes her head to clear it. “Sorry. Lost in a thought. I, um, my father called. He wants to take us out to dinner tonight; to get to know us before the wedding. I told him I’d have to check with you. He said Sunday would be okay, too.”

JJ sits back in her chair. She had just about given up on Gerald Prentiss. She studies Emily, who nervously picks at her nails. “First of all, stop picking your nails or you’ll be forced to get a manicure before the wedding.” Emily immediately stops. “Secondly, Em, I know you want to reach out to him and find out if, like your mother, he really wants to know you. Hold on a second.”

She picks up her phone and dials a number. “Hey, Garcia. Any chance you can watch Henry for a few hours tonight?” She listens and frowns. “Oh. No, that’s fine. Guess Sunday is out, too?” She nods. “Okay. Well, never mind. You guys have fun.” She hangs up the phone and smiles at Emily.

“Garcia and Kevin are having a romantic weekend at Wintergreen.”

Emily nods. “Good for them! Well, I’ll call Father and tell him it’s a no-go.” She bites her lip nervously. “Hmmm…I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed.”

JJ smiles kindly. “Be disappointed. He  _is_   your father, Em, and nothing will change that.”

Emily nods and stands to go. “Thanks, Jen. I really appreciate the support. I know my family puts the ‘fun’ in dysfunctional.”

JJ’s laughter follows Emily down the hall. Ten minutes later a shadow falls across JJ’s desk. She looks up and sees a pale Emily standing in the door. She leaps up and hurries around her desk to her fiancé.

“Em? Sit down, honey! What’s wrong?” She guides Emily down into a chair. Emily stares at the ground. She is shaking slightly.

“My…my father…he…he…” she finally looks up and meet’s JJ’s eyes. Brown eyes are filled with terror. “He’s coming to our house for pizza tonight.”

JJ studies Emily a moment then bursts out laughing. “God, Em! I thought he had died or something!” She takes Emily’s hand in hers. “Honey, this is a good thing.”

“But, Jen, he’s coming to our house! For pizza. Tonight.”

JJ slowly nods, smiling encouragingly. “Yes, he is. What’s so bad about this, Em? I just don’t understand.”

“Jen, I haven’t had a real conversation with my father since I was 15. What the fuck am I going to say to him now?”

JJ rubs her shoulder. “Well, I’d say that somewhere in the last 20 years you’ve probably done a few things worth talking about. But why don’t you let him steer the conversation. And if for some reason you two get stuck, I’ll be there to help. Okay?”

Emily stares into JJ’s eyes. “What have I ever done to deserve you?”

JJ kisses Emily’s hand. “I love you but…I never said you deserved me.”

The statement has the desired effect. Emily laughs, her tension easing some. She stands, wishing JJ’s door was closed so she could kiss her fiancé. “I love you, Jennifer,” Emily says quietly.

“I love you, too. Now go get your desk cleared so we can go.”

“As you wish, Agent Jareau. As you wish.”

An hour later the two women are walking out of the elevator on the first floor. They hear a voice call out.

“Emily? Emily Prentiss is that you?”

Emily turns and stares in shock. JJ looks from Emily to the woman. She is tall, blonde, brown-eyed, and gorgeous. Her eyes light up as she sees it really is Emily in the lobby. Emily laughs in recognition.

“Vicky? Is that really you! What are you doing here?”

The woman gives Emily a big hug. “I’m in White Collar Crimes out of New York now. I’m just down to give a seminar at the academy.”

“That’s great!” Emily gushes. JJ impatiently clears her throat. Emily turns. “Oh, Jen, I’d like—uh, what’s wrong?”

JJ clenches her jaw. “Oh, nothing.” She extends her hand. “Hi, Jennifer Jareau, BAU Media Liaison.”

“Hi, Vicky Cartwright and, well, you heard where I work.” The new blonde replies with a smile.

“Yes, yes I sure did. But I didn’t catch how you know Emily.” JJ stares pointedly at Emily.

Emily stares at JJ in shock. The woman is being incredibly rude. When Emily notices that JJ’s hand is hovering near her sidearm, it dawns on Emily what JJ must think. Her eyes widen in horror.

“Oh, Jen, no! No, no, no! I swear, no!”

Vicky looks from one woman to the other. “Um, is everything okay?”

Emily chuckles and answers, though her eyes never leave JJ’s. “Everything is great. Jen, Vicky and I came through the academy together. So did her  _husband_.”

JJ raises her eyebrows in relief. “Husband? Really?” She looks at Vicky. “So you’re not an ex?”

Vicky looks amused. “Nope, can’t say I’m her ex. She should be so lucky,” she adds with a wink.

JJ laughs, visibly relaxing…and moving her hand from her gun. “I bet.”

“So, how long are you in town, Vick?” Emily asks.

“Until Wednesday. Maybe we can do lunch next week? Pete had to stay in New York. I know he’ll hate missing you!”

“Lunch would be great. I’m up at the BAU. Stop by and we can set something up.”

“That would be great. I have to run up to White Collar to get a fax. It was so nice to meet you,” she says to JJ.

“You, too.”

Vicky says her goodbyes and jumps on the next elevator. Emily slowly turns and looks at JJ. The liaison is blushing, embarrassed about her leap to the wrong conclusion, and the fury that had welled up in her.

“I swear, JJ, I haven’t dated every woman that knows me,” she says solemnly. “And the ones I have are not all like Weston.”

“I know. But I’m not sure I will ever be able to meet an ‘old friend’ of yours without worrying. Or without getting insanely jealous even if they aren’t some crazy bitch.”

Emily nods, understanding. “Come on. Let’s get Henry from Day Care and head home.” The two head towards the doors. Emily glances at JJ and nudges her shoulder, grinning at her. “You’re really cute when you’re jealous…but I may need to secure your firearm next time we meet an old friend of mine.”

JJ blushes again, shouldering Emily back as the brunette laughs.


	4. Chapter 4

As they walk in to door to the condo, JJ looks at Emily. “Why don’t you go get changed and relax a bit. We have a couple hours until your dad gets here. Put some music on or something,” she suggests.

Emily starts to pace. “I’m not sure I can relax. I just keep thinking that I’ve got my mother back so maybe I’m being greedy by trying to get my father back, too.”

“Em, that’s not greedy,” JJ says, bouncing Henry on her hip.

“Maybe not,” Emily concedes. She walks over to the window, staring at the Capital Dome in the distance. “Jen, do you think it’s nuts that I hate politics, hate what it did to my family, and yet this is where I choose to live? Looking at the biggest symbol of U.S. political power?”

JJ smiles and walks over. “No, I think you chose it to remind yourself where you came from. You don’t have a childhood home to go back to. Not even a city to call your hometown. This is probably the closest thing you have to what I have.”

Emily slowly turns and looks at JJ. She brings a hand to the liaison’s cheek and caresses it gently. “And you say you’re not a profiler, Agent Jareau,” she says quietly.

JJ smiles and turns her head to kiss Emily’s palm. “It’s easy to profile the person you love.”

Emily leans forward and meets JJ in a gently kiss that is broken up too soon by…

“Ow. Ow. Ow. Henry, no pulling Mama’s hair. Ow. Uh, Jen, a hand please?”

JJ laughs as she sees Henry has wrapped his fists in Emily’s hair and is attempting to pull it into his mouth. “Nice grip, Henry. You’ll make a great goalkeeper someday.”

It takes a second but Emily is finally freed from his grasp. She looks at him. “Or a great mountain climber. Yeouch that hurt.” Henry giggles. “Oh, you think that’s funny, do you?” She starts to tickle him. “You better remember who’s bigger, Mr.”

JJ laughs as Henry giggles and wiggles while Emily tickles him. “Uh, oh…I think Mama tickled too long.”

“What? Why?”

JJ hands Henry over to Emily. “Diaper duty, Mama.”

Emily wrinkles her nose. “Henry, you are really doing your best to ruin my afternoon, aren’t you.” She gives him a kiss as he just giggles in response. “You’re lucky you’re a charmer, Little Man.”

As she starts up the stairs to the nursery the doorbell rings. JJ heads towards it, watching Emily and Henry until she can’t see them anymore. She is still smiling about their interaction as she opens the door. Her face changes from happy to shocked as she sees Gerald Prentiss standing there.

“Mr. Prentiss! I, um, thought you wouldn’t be here until 6.”

He smiles. “I called your office to ask Emily a question and they said you had already left. I hope it’s okay that I came early?”

JJ nods. “Of course.” He smiles and then raises an eyebrow, a very “Emily” gesture. JJ stares at him a moment, then jumps, realizing he is still standing in the hallway. “Oh, um, come in. Please. Sorry about that.”

He walks in and offers her the bouquet of flowers he had brought for them. “I hope Emily still loves Orchids.”

JJ nods. “She does, yes. Would you like a drink? Wine? Beer? Liquor?”

He chuckles nervously. “I’m thinking a bottle of scotch might be needed to steady my nerves.” She smiles understandingly. “Truth is, Agent Jareau, I’ve met with the heads of many nations. I argued with Reagan in his heyday. I told Mubarak he was a fool for not getting out of office sooner. And I nearly punched Berlusconi during his second term. But I have never been more intimidated by anyone than I am of my own daughter.”

JJ finishes putting the flowers in a vase and turns to him, leaning against the kitchen counter. “First of all, please call me Jennifer or JJ. I’m only ‘Agent Jareau’ at the office. Secondly, she may not have dealt with all those heads of nations but she is just as scared as you. The one thing you need to know about Emily is she wants more than anything else to just have your respect.”

“Do you have a good relationship with your parents, Jennifer?”

She smiles proudly. “Yes, I do. And they adore Emily, too.”

He smiles. “I’m glad. She deserved better than her mother and I but from what I’ve read about you she’s damn lucky to have you.”

Before JJ can question him about what he has “read” about her, they hear Emily and Henry coming downstairs.

“So he is widely considered the best Dr. Who, and my personal favorite. Maybe we’ll have time this weekend to watch and—DAD!”

JJ is laughing at Emily discussing the finer points of “Dr Who” to Henry. But the shocked look on her lover’s eyes gives her some concern. Emily was not prepared to see her father and JJ kicks herself for not somehow letting Emily know he was here. Gerald smiles and walks towards Emily.

“So, this must be little Henry.”

Emily looks beyond him to JJ, who just smiles encouragingly. “Uh, yeah, this is Henry,” Emily manages.

Gerald addresses the little boy. “Hello, Henry. I’m your Grandfather Gerald. I hope you will avoid peeing or throwing up on me.” He winks at the little boy. “Save those little gifts for your Grandma Lizzie.”

Emily stares at the man’s face. His micro-expressions are either extremely controlled or his is completely enamored by the smiling baby in front of him. Gerald looks over his shoulder at JJ. “He is a handsome boy, Jennifer.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Please, call me Gerald.” JJ nods. He turns back to Emily and reaches out his hands. “May I?”

Emily nods. “Sure. Of course.” She hands Henry over. The little boy giggles, clapping his hands as Gerald speaks to him.

“Vi sono un bel ragazzo dolce. E si mette un sorriso sul volto della mia figlia che non ho mai visto in molti anni, se mai. Si vuole per nulla, il mio ragazzo. Il tuo nonno sarà certo.”* He gives Henry a kiss on the cheek.

JJ had been watching that interaction. Henry had listened as if he understood every word. And since Emily speaks to him in Italian quite a bit maybe he did. JJ looks at Emily and sees tears on her cheeks. Emily takes a deep breath. JJ can see the compartment slamming shut.

“I should…call for pizza,” Emily mutters and walks towards the kitchen. JJ follows her.

“Em?” Emily leans on the counter, refusing to turn around. JJ wraps her arms around her waist. “What did he say, honey?”

Emily takes a couple of steadying breaths. “He said, ‘You are a handsome, sweet boy. And you put a smile on my daughter’s face that I haven’t seen in many years, if ever. You will want for nothing, my boy. Your Grandfather will make sure of that.’” Emily finally turns and around and faces JJ, seeing her father in the living room now playing peek-a-boo with Henry. Emily whispers. “Jen, I can’t remember him ever holding me. And I know he never spoke to me like that. What the fuck is happening?”

JJ rubs Emily’s arm. “Your father is trying to become your dad. Just roll with it for now, sweetheart.”

Emily nods. JJ heads into the living room, leaving Emily to call for the pizza, mostly because she knows the profiler needs a moment alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Translation per Babylon Italian Translator.


	5. Chapter 5

With pizza on the way, JJ decides to get Henry fed. As she heads to the kitchen area, Emily and her father sit down on the sofa. He looks around the room, smiling at the contrast between high art and baby toys. He glances over his shoulder to watch JJ getting Henry in his highchair. Gerald turns back to Emily.

“Tua moglie è bellissima,” he says in Italian.

Emily smiles, “She is beyond beautiful. Though she’s not my wife just yet.”

He waves his hand in the air, dismissing that. “The wedding is just a piece of paper. In your heart she is already your wife. I can see that in your eyes.”

Emily blushes and nods. “That’s true.” The two sit in silence for a moment. She studies his face. Though obviously older, more wrinkles framing his eyes, he is still the same strong-jawed man she remembers. Something Elizabeth had said runs through her mind and she tilts her head curiously. “Father, did you ever love Mother?”

He sits back, staring at the window thoughtfully. “When I was 22 my father came to me and said he had found the woman I was to marry. Now, that wasn’t some romantic ‘you will be perfect together’ statement. It was an order. Our family and her family had money and power. It was imperative that we join.” He pauses. “I told him he could take away my trust fund, my sports car and anything else as there was no way I was going to marry someone I didn’t love.” He shrugs and laughs. “It was the ‘60’s after all and love meant something.”

Emily laughs. “Free love? Somehow I can’t imagine you being much of a hippie with a sports car and trust fund.”

Gerald laughs. “Well, I liked the scene. Let’s leave at that, yes?” She nods, still smiling. “So, one night I am at one of the compulsory dinners you hate so much.” He leans forward and whispers. “I hated them, too.” She rolls her eyes in amusement as he sits back. “Anyway, I am meeting the prime minister of Timbuktu or something and I see a ravishing beauty walk in the room. I had always been a sucker for blue-eyed blondes. The more Scandinavian the better!”

Emily glances over her shoulder at JJ. “So it’s genetic, is it?”

He laughs. “Apparently. Anyway, this woman floored me. Dark hair, dark eyes, mysterious. Instead of the basic black she was wearing fire engine red. It was love at first sight for me. For her, not so much. She thought I was arrogant, rude, a snob. And, granted, I was all those things but when I found out this was the woman my parents wanted me to marry I jumped for joy. Emily, I made a lot of mistakes in my life but marrying your mother was not one of them. I really did love her.”

Emily is stunned to hear this. She finally asks the question she had been wondering since he walked out on the marriage when she was a sophomore at Yale. “Then why all the fucking affairs?”

He scoots closer to her and takes her hands. “I am not using this as an excuse but please listen to the end. Your mother’s power soon eclipsed mine because…because I was a drunk, Emily. Yes, I hid it well but I was an alcoholic. Scratch that, I  _am_  an alcoholic.” Emily is wide-eyed at this admission. “Two years ago I woke up and it just hit me all that I had lost. I was functioning enough that I could work but what the hell good was work if I had no one to share my accomplishments with? I knew at that moment I had to change or spend the rest of my life alone. I called an old friend who had followed the steps. It wasn’t easy but 4 months ago I finally earned this.”

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his 1 Year of Sobriety award coin. He hand it to Emily who reverently takes it. She had stood by Reid as he struggled with sobriety, even acting as a pseudo-sponsor when they were too far away from his real sponsor. She knows this is not something given lightly and it is earned only by those strong of heart. She looks up at her father, tears in her eyes.

“Emily, I know I can’t undo all the things I did wrong. But I have admitted my shortcomings and I swear I am working to correct them and improve myself. I am ready to do what I have to do to make amends with you and with your mother. Please tell me I’m not too late.”

Emily can’t stop her tears. She bites her lip as her chest tightens so much she can barely breath. “You’re not…” her voice chokes off. She takes a shuddering breath. “You’re not too late, Father.”

He pulls her into a hug, his tears dampening her shoulders. In the kitchen, Henry pats his mothers hand consolingly as she also cries, happy to see the walls starting to crumble between Emily and Gerald.


	6. Chapter 6

The rest of the night goes very well. Emily and Gerald talk and laugh long after JJ and Henry go to bed. It is nearly 2 a.m. before the profiler makes her way upstairs. She stops by Henry’s room first. She stares down at the little boy who has her heart.

“I love you, Henry. You and your mother. I hope I never let you down.” She leans over and kisses him on the head.

She moves into her room. She stops at the doorway, smiling at the sight before her. Moonlight shines through the sheer blinds, bathing JJ in a soft, yellow glow. She sleeps naked on her stomach. Her golden hair is spread out to the side as if blown by the wind.

Emily walks to her side of the bed and slowly undresses. She crawls onto the bed, folding the sheet back off of JJ. She leans down and kisses the back of JJ’s neck. The blond shivers in her sleep. Emily grins. She kisses her way down JJ’s back. The sleeping blond just moans. Emily straddles her lover’s legs, continuing to kiss all along JJ’s back and shoulders. A change in her breathing signals JJ’s awakening.

“Oh, Emily,” she murmurs.

Emily inserts a leg between JJ’s, spreading them apart. She kisses her way to JJ’s ear.

“I love you, Jennifer. Tu eres mi esposa.*”

JJ can’t speak as Emily’s lightly traces a path down her back, over her ass and between her legs. JJ eases up a little onto her hands and knees to allow Emily more access. Emily uses her other arm to brace herself as she begins to thrust her fingers into JJ’s wet folds.

“Oh, Emily, yesss,” JJ moans.

Emily’s own wet center thrusts against the leg she straddles, in time with the hand making love to JJ. JJ feels Emily’s excitement and it turns her on even more. Her hips are pumping, meeting ever thrust from Emily. Sooner than they wanted, but more explosive than they had expected, they orgasm together.

“EMILY!”

“JEN!”

Emily collapses down to the bed, half on JJ. The blond has also fallen back down to the bed. After a few minutes, Emily eases off, allowing JJ to roll over. She crawls half on top of the brunette and kisses her deeply. Her hand starts to rub the hard nipples testifying to Emily’s arousal. Emily’s hips arch of their own will.

JJ replaces her hand with her mouth. She alternates light touches with her tongue with nips from her teeth.

“Oh, Jen, that feels so good. So fucking good,” Emily moans.

JJ knows the right breast attention can actually drive Emily to orgasm. She is content this time to take her lover to the brink then stop her ministrations. Emily groans in protest until she realizes JJ is kissing her way downward. Emily’s legs open wider as JJ settles between them. Her tongue lightly plays across Emily’s clit. Emily hisses.

“Please…more…” Emily begs.

JJ loves the power she has over Emily. No one had ever made her feel this in control in bed. Emily trusts JJ completely with her heart and body. It is a trust that JJ will not abuse.

Her tongue thrusts into Emily. Emily’s fingers grip JJ’s head as her hips start to thrust. JJ knows Emily will not last much longer. She draws Emily’s hard jewel into her mouth as she thrusts a finger into her. As she starts to thrust harder, faster, deeper she adds another finger.

Emily is now unable to make any sounds as she rides JJ’s mouth and hand. As she nears the apex, JJ reaches up with her free hand and pinches one of Emily’s nipples.

“GOD! YES! JENNN!”

Emily’s hips suspend in air for a moment, then explode down and up once more, before she finally collapses down upon the bed. A somewhat smug JJ crawls back up her lover. They share a deep kiss, Emily moaning as she tastes herself on JJ.

“I love you, Jennifer,” Emily whispers breathlessly.

“I love you, too, Emily.”

JJ curls into Emily’s side, content to fall asleep in the arms of love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * per Babylon Spanish translator: You are my wife


	7. Chapter 7

Monday at work, Emily sees Reid in the break area and heads over to see him.

“Hi,” she says quietly.

“Good morning. How was dinner with your father?” he asks kindly.

She smiles. “It was…enlightening. Good, too.”

Reid gives her a crooked grin. “I’m glad to hear that.” He stares at her a moment. “What’s wrong then?”

Emily grins at him. “You profiling me?”

“No. Just worried about a friend.”

She chuckles. “Thanks.” She glances around to make sure no one is nearby before speaking. “He showed me his 1 year coin.”

Reid’s eyes widen. “Wow! Did you know he was in AA?”

“Reid, I hardly know him. I don’t ever remember him having a drinking problem but I also don’t ever remember seeing him without a drink. He told me he was a functioning alcoholic so he must have hidden it pretty well from a lot of people.”

Reid nods. “I know how that works. But it always catches up to us eventually.”

“Yes, I guess it does,” Emily fiddles with a chip on the mug in her hand for a moment. “Reid…I’m a lot like him. Always have been. Do you think…I mean could I…” she trails off.

“Yes, you are a lot like him. But you are also your own person, Emily. I know studies show there is a hereditary aspect to alcoholism but I believe the key factor is personal choice. You can choose to be an alcoholic or not. Otherwise no one would be sober. Do I think you have an issue with alcohol? No. And that says a lot about your willpower considering what we see and deal with everyday.” He squeezes her arm. “We both know I could quote you a million or more stats on why you will or won’t become an alcoholic.” Emily smiles and nods. “I don’t think the stats matter. You won’t because you have too much to live for.” He nods towards JJ, who is passing out case files. “Not to mention Henry.”

“Yeah,” Emily agrees.

“And you also have a friend who will not let you fall if he sees you stumbling.”

Emily looks into his eyes. He smiles, the promise obvious in his face. She gives his hand a squeeze. “Thanks, Spencer.”

“Any time, Emily. If it wasn’t for you I may not have sobered up. You interfered in my life. And I thank God every day you did.”

She smiles. “I do, too.”

The two head back to their desks to see what prizes JJ has left for them to go over.

* * *

 

Friday afternoon Emily is working on her last case of the day when Hotch comes storming out of his office.

“Team, conference room. Now.”

The agents quickly follow Hotch into the room. They hear the distinctive clicking of Garcia’s heels hurrying down the hall and watch as JJ speeds into the room, handing Hotch several pieces of paper.

“This is everything?” he asks her.

“So far. There will be more once we arrive. They didn’t want to send it for fear it would somehow leak out,” she answers.

He nods. As everyone gets settled he shuts the door.

“BATF has called for our assistance. They believe they have uncovered a sleeper cell in Story City, Iowa, just outside of Ames.”

“Where Iowa State is?” Morgan confirms.

“Yes. They had information from an informant on illegal arms trading at a farm. When they finally got the chance to raid the home they found no one there but did find a cache of guns, both fully automatic and semi-automatic. They found Jihadist literature.” He glances at Emily. “I want you to translate it for us and not rely on what they give us.”

She nods. “Yes, sir.”

“They also found traces of Semtex and C-4.”

“Why do they want us in on this?” Rossi asks.

“They want us to re-interview their informant and they want us to go through all the information they have to try to find out who they are looking for. They have profiles of all the foreign students at Iowa State but we all know these could easily be homegrown terrorists. We do not want to assume anything. Every minute counts. Garcia, you’re with us as they did confiscate several computers. Pack up whatever you might need to help you hack into them. Wheels up in 1 hour. JJ, Emily, a word?”

Everyone leaves except the engaged agents. “I know you are getting married next weekend but—”

“Hotch, don’t even go there,” JJ interrupts. “We made it clear to the venues and our families that things could change last minute.”

“Thank you. See you on the jet.” He leaves the conference room.

JJ looks at Emily. “My mother won’t be able to get here in time and Garcia’s going with us.”

Emily takes a deep breath and pulls out her phone. She scrolls through her contacts and hits a number. She waits a second. “Mother? I need a favor.”

Elizabeth Prentiss had returned to the States to help with final preparations for the wedding. Saturday she was supposed to be taking Emily for a final fitting of the custom-made suit she would be wearing for the wedding. But 45 minutes later she is helping secure Henry’s car seat into a limo for a ride to East Alleghany. Despite the stress of the situation, JJ can’t help but laugh.

“You know, I never rode in a limo until college. He’s barely a year old and look at him.”

Emily smiles. “He better get used to it. Mother doesn’t drive.”

The women kiss their son goodbye. With a hug, kiss and big thank you to Elizabeth, Emily and JJ hop in their SUV and head for the airstrip. They hurry into the plane, being the last ones to arrive. As they sit down, Hotch hands Emily several pieces of paper.

“They finally faxed these over. I have a feeling they are nothing or they wouldn’t have risked it. I still want to know what they say.”

Emily nods. “I’ll get right on it.”

Fifteen minutes later they are in the air. Emily reads through the 5 papers. She uses a legal pad to transcribe them, shaking her head several times. When she finally finishes, she looks over her shoulder.

“Hotch? I’m done.”

He and Rossi move from the front of the plane back to where the rest of the team sits.

“They don’t make sense,” Emily reports. “My guess is it’s all code. At first glance someone may see a couple shopping lists, a letter home to a mother, and two school essays. But the letter to mother is especially wrong. The writer talks about his girlfriend and how good she is in bed. I’m not sure that’s something anyone would discuss but especially not a Muslim to his mother.”

“I know it’s not something I brag about to Mom,” Morgan notes.

Emily points to a second one. “This essay is supposed to be on the American Revolution. But dates are wrong as are names. The second one, on the 100 Years War, has the same types of issues Reid, maybe you can figure out a pattern to the errors and see more errors than I noted,” she hands him the translations.

“I’ll take a look,” he starts to scan the paper.

“And the shopping lists are the strangest. The biggest error I see is no Muslim is going to be buying pork chops,” Emily states.

“Would a Muslim even use that as a codeword?” JJ asks, considering the “homegrown” angle.

Emily hesitates. “I would think not but they could do it to throw suspicion off someone from the middle east. We just don’t know enough from this to say yet.”

Hotch nods. “Okay, it’s a start. Garcia, take these lists and runs searches of the words Emily has noted. The letter home, too, though I think that’s secondary.”

“Why’s that?” Rossi asks.

“The lists would be things they would need, the essays targets and times. I think the letter home would just be to let them know things were ready to go. We need to know what they have and what they intend to do with it. We work on the assumption they are getting ready to strike.”

The team nods, several of them thinking back to Emily’s very first case with the BAU. They had stopped an attack with just minutes to spare. Would they get lucky again this time? JJ entwines her fingers with Emily’s and attempts to rest but she knows very well none of them would really rest until the case was done.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the story where I finally thought I'd found my stride with these characters and could make it a decent series.

With no local field office in Iowa, the team is not surprised to see a variety of vehicles awaiting them instead of their standard issue SUV’s. Hotch double checks his PDA.

“Our SUV’s will be here tomorrow. Let’s hope we don’t need vests or anything else before then,” he grumbles. “Okay, Morgan, Prentiss, Rossi head to the farmhouse. JJ, Garcia you’re with me. The BATF has secured two conference rooms at the police station for us to use. JJ, they have agreed that you will deal with all media questions. So far there haven’t been any leaks but I can’t imagine that will last long. Reid, will you be better served at the station house or the farm house looking for your codes?”

“Where is the majority of the information?” Reid asks.

“Most of it is still locked down at the farm.”

“Then I need to go there. The key could be there, too.”

“Then you’re with them. I think it goes without saying that we need to proceed with extreme caution,” Hotch states. “Keep in touch.”

Hotch, JJ and Garcia head to the Jeep Cherokee and load up all of Garcia’s gear. Morgan and Prentiss take the Toyota Camry while Rossi and Reid take the Chevy Sonic. Rossi glances over at Reid.

“I don’t want to hear one word about you being cramped, String Bean. If you didn’t walk so slow we’d have had the Camry,” Rossi points out.

Reid just shrugs as he crumples his tall frame into the sub-compact car. Rossi lets out a string of Italian that Reid had learned from Emily was not something that should be repeated in English. Wisely, the genius stays quiet.

At the farmhouse, Morgan and Prentiss slow for the two armed guards at the gate. They both flash their credentials.

“We’re with the BAU. We’re expected. Same with the car behind us.”

The guard steps away to radio up to the house. After a moment, he nods to the other one, who opens the gate for the FBI agents. As they drive in, Morgan looks at Emily.

“Two at the gate and ate least 4 in the bushes.”

“I counted six,” Emily says. “Think the unsubs will try to come back here?”

“Can’t imagine why if the BATF found everything stashed here,” Morgan points out. Emily slowly turns and looks at him, her eyebrow raised. He shakes his head. “You and Reid do what you got to do. Rossi and I will research the place. We can say it helps with the profile.”

“Yeah. And helps to make sure we don’t get blown to kingdom come before my wedding,” she says with a grin.

He chuckles. “That, too.”

As they pull up to the house they get out of their car and watch as Rossi parks. They lean against their car to watch as Reid works to extract himself from the car. The two agents can’t stop their laughter.

“You both suck,” Reid mutters as he walks past them into the house.

Rossi glares at them as he walks over. “I concur with the boy genius.”

“Sorry, Rossi, we couldn’t resist,” Morgan states with a smile. He then gets serious. “Look, Prentiss and I talked. She and Reid need to get going on their stuff. I’d feel better about us being here if you and I re-canvassed everything.”

“Use the old ‘it gives us insight’ line?” Rossi guesses.

“Yep.”

“Then let’s do it. Good luck, Prentiss.”

“Thanks,” she says as she heads inside.

She gets in there in time to hear the last of Reid’s comment to the agents in charge.

“—Emily and I will need full access to everything you have here. Her language skills and my deciphering skills are the only way we can stop these men in time.”

“Look, Agent, do you really think you’re faster than our computers?”

“Actually, it’s Doctor Reid. And yes, I am faster. I’ve proved it several times over. Computers don’t take into account the human element. They don’t know emotions, they don’t know what is familiar to people. This house will tell us what we need to know before the computers will.”

“He’s right,” Emily states. “He’s broken more codes doing long-hand trial and error than any computer I’ve ever seen. And let’s face it, what do you have to lose if your computer does beat him?”

Emily and the BATF agent stare each other down. Finally the woman throws up her hands. “Fine. Waste your time if you want. Where’s the rest of your team?”

“I’m SSA Emily Prentiss. I’ll be doing the translations of anything in Arabic. SSA’s Morgan and Rossi are going to re-canvass the whole farm.” She raises a hand to stop the woman’s protest. “Not to see if you missed anything but to help us with creating a profile of who was here. These are all the puzzle pieces that will help us find the men behind this potential attack.”

The woman glares at Emily. “Fine. But they better not mess up any evidence.”

Emily takes offense at the suggestion. She raises an eyebrow. “If you’ve found all the evidence that shouldn’t be a problem.”

The two women lock into a stare down. Reid looks between them then wisely decides to leave the room. The BATF agent finally extends her hand. “Cynthia Traina.” Emily shakes her hand. “Let me show you what we have, Prentiss.”

Emily follows her into another room and sees stacks and stacks of papers. “Well, they were nothing if not prolific.”

Cynthia chuckles, deciding she might just like this FBI agent.

* * *

 

Morgan and Rossi decide to start with the outbuildings, knowing they will have to wait until morning to check the land.

As they walk into the first barn they see it is completely empty. Morgan kneels down and sees drag marks on the ground.

“Something heavy was here. Do we know where they found the explosive residue?”

“I think just in the house.”

“Okay. What about the guns?”

“Not sure. But there were plenty of them so maybe some were loaded up and taken away before they BATF got here.”

“Hopefully Hotch can get us more information on what was found here.”

The two search the next two buildings. One is filled with farming equipment that dates back 50 years or more. The other is filled with empty boxes and crates.

“Why the hell did they just leave these things?” Rossi demands.

“Because we’ve already tested them for residue and found nothing and since it says what they used to contain on the side there was no need to take them,” a woman answers him. The FBI agents turn to see a woman with black hair and ice blue eyes. Those eyes are throwing daggers at Rossi. “Your friend Prentiss said you weren’t out here trying to second guess us.”

“She’s right,” Morgan tells her. “We’re just frustrated and Rossi was just venting. We know we’d have gotten our answer when we looked over the reports.”

“Why not look at those first?”

“It helps us if we see the scene with fresh eyes, no preconceptions.”

“I see. So, what do you know so far?”

“We know you all were either very thorough with removing their weapons or they were,” Rossi replies. “One of those options is comforting. The other is frightening.”

Traina stares at the two men, sizing them up. She finally turns to the older agent. “Agent Rossi, I got to sit on a seminar you gave several years ago while you were still retired. I hope you haven’t gotten rusty.”

He smiles. “Trust me, all the rust has been knocked off.”

“Good. I’m Cynthia Traina. I’m in charge of this location. And I want to stop these bastards before they do anything with the toys they’ve gathered.”

“You know Rossi. I’m Derek Morgan. We want the same thing. We don’t care about jurisdictional bullshit.”

“Well, now that we’ve got that straight, where to next?”

“Any more buildings on the property?”

“Just an old storm shelter. When we opened the door we saw snakes and spiderwebs so we’re assuming they didn’t use it.”

“I hate to make assumptions,” Morgan says.

Traina laughs. “Well, if you want to play with the poisonous critters be my guest, Agent Morgan. But some of those webs looked older than the equipment in the storage shed. You’re call.”

Morgan thinks about it a moment. He finally decides to put it off until morning when daylight can help him keep an eye on any critters. The three agents head back into the house. They find Emily buried in papers.

“How goes it, Prentiss?” Morgan asks.

“There’s so much. I’m trying to scan them quickly and just translate the ones that Reid may be able to use. I’ll go back to the others when I finish those.”

“Alright.”

They step into the next room to find Reid staring at a whiteboard filled with the numbers and names that had seemed odd in the initial translations. He had added words and numbers from 3 more papers Emily had given him. Traina raises an eyebrow and whispers to Rossi.

“What is he doing?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to try to understand. Just accept that his head is running through more computations than the best computer on the planet. He’ll let us know when he needs us.”

Morgan and Rossi walk through the house, checking each room. When they get to the kitchen, Rossi opens the refrigerator. “Milk. Water. Bread. Cheese. Not a pork chop in sight.” He opens the freezer to find nothing but ice. “Did you all find anything in here?”

“Nope. The kitchen had nothing of interest for us. It doesn’t look like it’s been used for a while.”

“Who owns this place?”

“It was an older couple. We found their bodies in a shallow grave in one of the pastures.”

“Damn,” Morgan mutters. He turns to look at some pictures on the walls. “How long had they been dead?”

“Coroner believes at least a month.”

“So in one month, these unsubs kill a couple, take over their farm, and get explosives and guns shipped here.” Morgan turns to the other two agents. “This started somewhere else. This is their endgame, not their starting point. Whatever they are planning is happening soon.”


	9. Chapter 9

At the police station, Garcia is sitting in an office alone, her own computers hooked to two of the ones the BATF had found at the farmhouse. She is impressed by the skill of the operator who had set up the systems. They have more backdoors, hidden drives, and Trojan horses ready to launch than she has ever seen before. Their online histories are set to erase every 2 hours.

“You think you’re so smart,” she says to the mystery hacker. “But you’re not as smart as me and you don’t have access to what I have. We’ll find your asses and make you pay. And we’ll do it before Saturday so my Beautiful JJ can marry her Princess Charming in the wedding of her dreams.”

Garcia sets up some traps of her own design to capture any information that might relate to bombs, guns, terrorism, and anything else she can think of that could lead to the unsubs and their target. Satisfied she has done as much as she can without more information from Reid and Emily, she heads out of the office. She locks the door behind her.

“Sir, I’ve got two of the computers hooked up to my deprogramming programs. Hopefully by morning, which is really just a few hours from now, we’ll have something to look at. If the Dynamic Decoders email me anything I can feed that into the programs in the morning and refine any findings.”

Hotch nods. “Very good.”

“Who is  _that_?” a woman asks, obviously disgusted by Garcia’s less than FBI-standard outfit.

Garcia slowly turns and glares at the woman with the attitude. Hotch sees his analyst is tired and just might give the woman a piece of her mind. He steps between them.

“Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia meet Sophia Peterson, unit chief of the BATF team we’re assisting. Sophia, I want you to meet our teams secret weapon. If there is information in cyberspace to be found, Garcia will find it.”

Garcia smiles at Hotch, his praise tickling her “be-speckled heart.” Sophia looks at Hotch as if he has lost his mind then shrugs. “If you say so.”

“Well, thank you so much for the vote of confidence,” Garcia remarks dryly. “Is JJ ready to head to the hotel?”

“I think so. You two go ahead. I’ll be there later.”

Garcia raises an eyebrow. “Really? You mean we won’t come in tomorrow to find you in the same suit and tie, hair casually tousled from sleeping on a couch somewhere?”

Hotch chuckles. “Sorry, Mom, I promise to try to be there later. Better?”

“Not really but at least it’s honest. Sir, try to get some rest. We need you at the top of your game,” she says with care.

“Thank you, Garcia. I appreciate the concern.”

The analyst nods and heads off to find JJ. Sophia looks at Hotch.

“You let a subordinate speak to you like that?” she says in surprise.

“We’re a team. We look out for each other.”

“If one of my team members spoke to me like that they’d be off my team,” she mutters.

Hotch considers arguing the point but knows they don’t have time for pissing contests between the unit chiefs. He likes how his team works together and that’s all that matters to him.

“Why did you split your team up?” he asks as he looks over another report on the informant they will be interviewing in the morning.

“McClean and Traina have things handled here. The rest can follow up on some chatter that we were alerted to. It covers more bases.”

Hotch looks up sharply. “You didn’t think to tell us about any ‘chatter’ that could be pertinent to this case.”

“It’s just chatter, Hotchner. It’s not important,” she says dismissively.

He leans on the desk. “This is a joint investigation at this point, Peterson. It’s not up to you to decide what my team knows and doesn’t know. If you keep information from us and someone gets hurt or killed because of it I’ll have your badge.”

She leans towards him. “Don’t threaten me, Hotchner. This is my case and you’re only here because my bosses think your mind games might help us get more information. I’m not so convinced. I’ll give you what I deem necessary. Until then, stay out of my way.”

The two agents stare each other down. JJ is on her way to let Hotch know she is leaving and walks into the tense situation. She pauses, thinking that Hotch looks like he’s about to deck the woman in front of him. She had met Peterson earlier and had taken an instant dislike to her. After talking with Garcia and seeing this stand-off it appears the BATF chief is not winning favor with anyone on the team.

“Um, Hotch? I’m heading out. Anything you need before I go?” JJ asks, as she thinks to herself. “ _Boxing gloves, baseball bat, nightstick…”_

“I’m good, JJ. See you in the morning.”

JJ nods and heads out. As she crosses the squad room she glances back once to see Sophia close the door. JJ hopes no blood is spilled.

* * *

 

Morgan and Rossi leave the farmhouse around midnight. Reid and Emily stay behind, knowing they have little time to find the information that is needed to break the case. As Morgan drives, his mind keeps straying to the things they  _didn’t_ find at the farmhouse. Suddenly one thing jumps out at him.

“Rossi, if you lived in the middle of tornado alley, would you let your storm shelter go to the snakes?”

Rossi looks at Morgan, light dawning in his eyes. “No way. At least, not without building another one.”

“That first one is kinda far from the house. Maybe you’d build one closer,” Morgan suggests.

Rossi nods, seeing where Morgan is going with this. “And if you’re an unsub with something to hide maybe, just maybe, you hide it in that storm cellar and then hide the storm cellar.”

“Farm has a tractor with a front loader. Wouldn’t take long to move some dirt onto the door and bury it to keep prying eyes from finding anything useful.”

Rossi nods. He thinks about this some but then shakes his head. “But there are agents crawling all over the farm now. How do you get your stuff back?”

“Terrorists are incredibly patient. Look how long they planned 9/11. Maybe they know they’re going to get busted, they bury their stuff, and they come back for it later,” Morgan theorizes.

“Don’t you think Traina may have thought of that?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Sometimes you need someone to bounce theories off of. This unit we’re working with doesn’t seem all that cohesive. I mean, she never once called her partner and he never called her. No contact with her boss at all.”

“True. But not all teams are our team. It’s not our job to question their methods.”

“It is if it can get us killed,” Morgan points out. “How about we aim to be back there at first light and check out all the grounds.”

Rossi nods. “Sounds good. I’ll meet you in the lobby at 6.”

Morgan nods and they make the rest of the trip in silence. As they reach the hotel, they see JJ and Garcia just walking in the doors. They catch up to the two women at check in. JJ looks beyond them expectantly.

“Emily? Reid?”

“They stayed behind,” Morgan tells her. “There was a lot of stuff to go through.”

“But, geez, they can’t work all night,” Garcia whines. “They need sleep or they could miss something.”

“Easy, Baby Girl, we told them that, too. They promised to get some sleep.”

“Here or there?” JJ asks.

“They didn’t specify,” Morgan admits.

The four agents head upstairs, each knowing the two at the farm will work themselves into the ground if they feel they are close to an answer. As she gets into the room she is supposed to share with Emily, JJ fires off a text to her.

“ _Please get some rest, baby. I love you_.”

She is about to step into the shower when she gets a text back. She grabs her phone.

“ _I’ll try. There are more stacks of papers here than in 2 of your offices put together. Sleep well, sweetheart. I love you_.”

JJ smiles at the text then goes into the shower.

* * *

 

It is nearly 4 a.m. Emily is getting so cross-eyed she’s not sure she can even read English anymore. She stands and stretches before heading into the room Reid has taken over.

“Reid? You doing okay?”

The lanky man sighs, rubbing his eyes. “Not really. I feel like the answer is right there and I’m missing it.”

“We both need sleep. I don’t think either of us is safe to drive. I’m going to crash on the couch for a couple hours,” she tells him, moving into the living room.

“There are 3 bedrooms, Emily. Why not take one of the beds?”

She thinks about it a moment, then shakes her head. “Just can’t. Not knowing one of those bastards probably slept in it.”

Reid raises his eyebrows as he contemplates that. “I think I’ll take the other couch.”

Emily just grins and goes to lie down. She sends a quick text to JJ.

“ _Hope you aren’t awake to read this. Reid and I are getting some sleep here at the farm. Love you.”_


	10. Chapter 10

When her alarm goes off at 5:30 the first thing JJ acknowledges is that she is all alone. She runs her hand over the pillow that should have cushioned Emily’s head. She reaches over to her phone and sees a text had arrived in the night. It is testament to her exhaustion that she hadn’t heard it. She smiles as she reads it.

“Well, Emily,” she says aloud, “I was not awake to get it.”

She considers texting back but decides against it. Emily has maybe been asleep an hour and a half. JJ doesn’t want to risk waking her.

The media liaison gets up and hits the brew button on the in-room coffee pot that she had set up the night before. By the time she is done in the bathroom the smell of coffee is filling the room. She breathes deeply, wishing she could get some caffeine just from the fumes. By the time she finishes pressing her suit, her coffee is ready. She turns on the TV to catch the early morning news before dressing. She spits coffee when she sees Sophia Peterson speaking to a reporter.

“We have reason to believe this is a homegrown terrorist threat. The BATF has managed to dismantle their arms and weapons supply train so it is just a matter of time before we have all suspects in custody. Be assured, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms will not rest until this threat is squashed. Thank you.”

“You stupid bitch,” JJ mutters.

She quickly dresses and calls Hotch.

“Hotchner.”

“Did you know about her press conference?” JJ shouts.

“JJ?” Hotch sounds confused. “Whose conference?”

“Peterson. She was just on the morning news telling them all about how the BATF has things in hand and the case is basically over. Not a damn word about us and not a damn bit of truth to what she said. Hotch, how the fuck am I going to fix this when her lies are discovered? We’re going to have no credibility!”

Hotch, who had slept on a couch in the police captain’s office rubs his face and sits up. “I didn’t know and I don’t know. I’ll talk to her. Get here and we’ll work on your response.”

“Fine. And Hotch? Sorry I yelled at you. But this is really going to make my job harder.”

“I know. I promise to help you shoulder this. See you soon.”

JJ disconnects and heads down to meet Garcia and the others for breakfast. She sees Morgan and Rossi already heading out the door.

“Where are you guys going?”

They turn back to her. “We’re following up on a hunch at the farm. What’s wrong?” Rossi asks.

JJ fills them in on what she saw that morning. Morgan rolls his eyes as Rossi just shakes his head.

“I’d hate to be in your shoes, JJ,” Rossi tells her. “Good luck, kid.”

“Thanks. You guys be careful.” She forces herself to smile. “Give Emily a kiss for me.”

Morgan shakes his head and laughs. “And get punched? Not a chance.”

The agents split up. Morgan and Rossi head out to the farm. Thirty minutes later JJ and Garcia have eaten and are on their way to the police station.

* * *

 

The couch was lumpy and smelled of stale cigarette smoke. And it was heaven to Emily Prentiss. Always able to get recharged with just a quick nap, she is up by 6:30. She has just brewed a pot of coffee when Morgan and Rossi walk in.

“Get any sleep?” Rossi asks.

“Yes, Mom,” Emily jokes. “Got 2 solid hours.”

Rossi chuckles. “And I was going to complain about only getting 4.” She smiles at him and offers him the coffee pot.

“Why are you back so early?”

“We want to look for another storm shelter,” Morgan tells her.

She quirks an eyebrow at him. “See something you didn’t like on the weather report this morning?”

He laughs. “No, smartass, I didn’t. We think the unsubs may have hid their weapons in it and then buried the storm shelter. It doesn’t make sense that this couple would let their only shelter go to ruin.”

Emily nods. “Good point.”

“By the way, you ought to know your lady is on the warpath,” Rossi tells her.

Emily frowns. “JJ? Why? What happened?”

“The BATF unit chief went on air this morning and made it sound like they had the whole case wrapped up. JJ’s job just got exponentially harder if the truth leaks out,” Rossi finishes.

“Son of a bitch. I’ll text her in a little while to see how she’s doing.”

“Come on, Rossi, let’s get looking,” Morgan starts out the door. Then he turns back. “Oh, and Emily? JJ wanted me to give you this.”

Emily had started to walk to the room she is working in but stops. “Give me what?” She says happily.

Rossi can only laugh as Morgan grabs Emily and gives her a sloppy, noisy kiss on the cheek.

“Ugh! Morgan! I’m gonna kill you!” She yells at his back as he runs out the door. She wipes off her cheek. She would never admit that his prank helped give her an emotional boost as she heads back to work. She smiles, her affection for the members of this team reminding her why she loves her job.

She has translated 3 more lists and 2 more essays when Reid comes rushing in. “The Inferno!” She stares at him blankly. He waves his hands. “Dante’s Inferno!” Her eyes widen as she realizes he has found the cipher.

“How do you know?”

“The names are anagrams of the characters. I think they are using the whole of ‘The Divine Comedy’ in a simple page, line, word cipher.”

“Brilliant, Reid! But what edition?”

He smiles. “We’re right by Iowa State. What do you want to bet that at least one English class is required to read it.”

“The bookshop! Reid, you so totally rock as Garcia would say!” she says happily.

“I’ll give them a call and--

Morgan comes racing into the room. “GET OUT! GET OUT NOW!”

The agents don’t question him but race out the front doors as the house explodes behind them.


	11. Chapter 11

JJ storms into the office Hotch and Peterson are in and slams the door.

“What the hell did you think you were doing? Do you know how hard it will be to gain the trust back when they find out you lied your ass off to them?” the irate liaison screams.

Peterson glares at JJ a moment. “Yes. Which is why I did not bring up the FBI being part of the investigation. Shit is leaking out of this building like air out of a popped balloon. I fed them a line of crap that you will get to swoop in and correct when the time is right. If that’s all, agent, get the hell out of here,” she says, dismissing JJ.

The blonde looks from the woman to Hotch and back again. “Look, maybe you were trying to be the hero or maybe you were trying to calm the press. But the way you did it was wrong. Not to mention, whoever these unsubs are, they most likely have no respect for our government and you have fed them just what they need to rally around. Next time, talk to a media liaison, either me or one of your own, before doing something so rash.”

JJ turns and storms out of the room. Peterson spins around to Hotch. “I want her badge! She is OFF this case!”

Hotch straightens up. “Everything she said is right. And you know it. If anyone loses their badge I will make damn sure it’s you.” He turns and walks out of the room to check in with Garcia.

Garcia is showing him the results of her scans. She had managed to restore about 90% of the information on the two computers. She is cataloging some emails to send to Reid when JJ runs into the room.

“There’s been an explosion at the farmhouse.”

* * *

 

 Emily, Reid and Morgan are thrown about 20 feet by the explosion. As they dust themselves off and check for injuries, Emily look at Morgan.

“Let me guess…you found the missing storm shelter.”

Morgan climbs to his feet, dusting off his black cargo pants. “Yeah, we found it, alright. They had it build with an entry into the house and one by their main storage barn. Rossi and I found scrape marks on the ground there last night and assumed it was the unsubs dragging things to a truck or something. Turns out the drag marks were from the bottom of the bucket on the tractor.”

“They scraped dirt over the entrance, didn’t they?” Reid guesses.

“Yep. We took some pictures of what we found. Which is a good thing. Rossi went back the way we came to let Traina know what we found. I made the mistake of trying to figure out where the inside door was hidden. When I opened the door, I heard a beep and saw a timer begin to count down from 10,” Morgan says guiltily.

The agents look at the house. What remains is in flames. All the evidence inside, except that trapped in Reid’s eidetic memory, is gone.

Rossi and Traina finally come running around from the back of the house. The agents are relieved to see each other. Traina shakes her head.

“Peterson is going to have my ass and my badge for this,” she mutters.

“I’ll back you, Traina. This was my fault,” Morgan offers.

“You don’t understand. She ordered me not to let you all fuck things up.” She gestures towards the house. “I’d say this is things fucked up.”

She pulls out her phone and walks away from the group. Emily pulls out her own phone and hits speed dial. JJ answers after the first ring.

“Hey, honey, how you doing this morning?”

“Well, I’ve got my heart pumping. That must be good,” Emily says.

“What happened?” JJ asks, knowing this is not going to be a good call.

Emily tells her what happened, stressing several times that all the agents are okay. “Look, there is nothing to be found in the house. Reid and I are going to come in to see if Garcia got anything off the computers. Morgan and Rossi are going to stay here with Traina to see if they can salvage anything from the shelter. We’ll see you soon. And, Jennifer? I love you.”

“I love you, too. I’ll see you soon.”

* * *

 

JJ raises her hands to stop Garcia and Hotch’s questions. “They are all okay but the house is a total loss. Emily and Reid are on their way here to get with you, Garcia. Morgan and Rossi are staying to see what can be found once the fires are out.”

Hotch and Garcia are both relieved. Hotch raises an eyebrow.

“How did the BATF miss the cache of weapons?”

JJ shrugs. “Morgan and Rossi said this morning they had a hunch there was a hidden storm shelter. Guess they were right.”

Peterson comes storming into the room. “Your agents blew up our crime scene!”

Hotch pulls himself up to his full height. “Your agents missed an entire load of guns, ammo and explosives. Not to mention the 2 doors to a storm shelter. Explain that one, Peterson. You’re damn lucky not to have any deaths on your hand. Did you all not bother with GPR?”

“Why the hell would we use Ground Penetrating Radar? We’d seen the storm cellar! We knew there was nothing down there!”

“Obviously, you were wrong. I’m beginning to think you are a liability to this case. Excuse me, I have a call to make.”

Hotch pushes past her. The woman stares at him in shock for a moment, then races after him. Garcia and JJ exchange a look.

“Why do I feel like we are about to see a royal rumble over jurisdiction?” Garcia asks.

“Because you are very perceptive,” JJ answers.

“So, is everyone really okay?”

“Yeah. Emily said not a scratch on them thanks to Morgan’s warning.” JJ turns and looks at her friend. “Please tell me you’ve got something from those computers?” She pleads.

“Some. I’m getting ready to hook up the other two now.” Garcia looks beyond JJ. “And I think you are about to be on TV.”

JJ turns and sees the reporters starting to show up. She sighs. “I need to go prepare a ‘no comment’ statement. They are going to rip me to shreds. This should be fun.”

“Give ‘em hell, JJ,” Garcia encourages. JJ gives her a smile and goes out to face the media horde.


	12. Chapter 12

Emily and Reid decide to detour to the hotel long enough to shower and change clothes. Emily is happy to see her room has not been cleaned yet. She lifts up the pillow JJ had slept on and inhales the scent of her lover. Never before had just the smell of someone centered her. With a sigh, she lays the pillow back down and heads for the bathroom. She turns on the TV as she goes and JJ’s voice reaches out to her.

“—as I said earlier, we have not confirmed the cause of the explosion but believe it may have been due to a gas line that was accidently punctured by the BATF.”

Emily grins. She can see the evil glint in JJ’s eyes as she throws the other agency to the wolves.

“The FBI is taking over as primary agency in charge of the investigation. At noon, Section Chief Aaron Hotchner will have an update for you. Until then we have no further comment. Thank you.”

JJ turns and heads back into the police station as reporters hurl questions at her.

“Good job, Jennifer,” Emily says proudly.

Thirty minutes later Reid and Emily are heading into police station. Reid goes immediately to the conference room. He was eager to get everything transcribed out his mind and back onto a board. He had already confirmed that the campus bookstore carried a copy of “The Divine Comedy” and he had asked them to hold a copy for him. Once he had that he could start to decode the messages.

Emily sees Hotch and JJ talking to the chief of police. She heads over to them.

“Hi,” she says.

JJ spins around, her eyes immediately scanning Emily head to toe, proving that the profiler really was okay. Her eyes light up.

“Hi, yourself. What is it Morgan calls you? Trouble?” she says with a wink.

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault! Morgan was the one that tripped the damn timer,” she argues with a grin.

“Glad you’re okay, Prentiss,” Hotch says. “Any chance some of the evidence will be saved?”

Emily shakes her head. “I doubt it. I remember a few things from the last couple of essays I translated. I’ll get them written down so Reid can add them to what he’s seen. Let’s hope it’s enough.”

“Hotch, I’m going to show Emily what Garcia has found. Maybe she can see if adds insight into the other information she’s seen.”

Hotch nods. The two agents head to the office Garcia is using. JJ gives a light knock on the door before opening it and entering. Garcia smiles at Emily.

“Hi, Ems, good to see you.”

“Good to be seen, Garcia,” she responds with a grin.

JJ closes the door behind them, grabs Emily by the collar, spins her up against the wall and gives her a deep, deep kiss. Garcia just grins and goes back to her computer programs. As the kiss ends, JJ strokes a hand down Emily’s cheek.

“I love you. Thank you for calling me before I heard it from someone else.”

Emily frames JJ’s face with her hands. “I know it wasn’t protocol to call you first but I couldn’t let you hear it from the BATF. I couldn’t allow you to worry. I love you, Jennifer.” The two share another kiss and then a strong, comforting hug.

“Oh, you guys are just the two cutest agents in love  _ever_!” Garcia gushes. Emily and JJ break away from their embrace, smiling at the techie.

“So, Garcia, what do you have that Reid and I can use?” Emily asks.

Garcia points to a printer. “There are pages and pages of weird essays and other pages of things I am pretty sure are one of those Arabic dialects you know.” Emily walks over and picks up about 100 pieces of paper. “And those are just from the first 2 computers. I’m still working on these two. They seem to have more security features than the first two.”

“Good. Maybe they will be more helpful. And with the sexiest computer hacker on the planet working on them we should have the info in more time,” Emily encourages with a smile.

“You say the sweetest things, Emily. And they are all true,” Garcia says with a cheesy grin.

Emily winks at her as she and JJ head out of the room. Hotch waves JJ over as Emily heads into the conference room with Reid. He has just finished writing up everything he had read before the house exploded. Emily adds the things she could remember from her last few translations.

“Garcia got these off the first two computers she’s cracked. I’ll take the Arabic ones if you take the English ones,” she says, sitting down at the conference table. Reid sits across from her and the two agents start to go through the new evidence.

Outside the room, Hotch brings JJ up to date on what is happening with Peterson.

“She’s been removed from the case. Her agent, Andre McClean will take over as head of the BATF contingent but I am in charge of everyone. You are the only media spokesperson.”

“I thought McClean was sent to chase down another lead?”

“He’s been told to get back here. Traina, the agent at the farm, will be here as soon as the fire department leaves the scene. You’ll need to get with the fire chief and their spokesman to make sure they do not leak the true cause of that explosion. If the terrorists think their weapons are gone they will be in the wind until they can rearm themselves. I don’t need to tell you that your life is going to be hell until this is over,” he finishes.

She smiles confidently. “That’s why they pay me the big bucks, right?”

He smiles and nods as she goes to find a quiet place to get in touch with the fire department representatives.

Two hours later Emily taps JJ on the shoulder. “Reid and I are running to the campus bookstore. Cross your fingers that their copy of Dante’s waltz through Hell is the one we need. Otherwise we’ll be at the library looking for every…” Emily’s voice trails off as an idea hits her. “Jayje, what would it take to get a look at the library’s records on anyone who checked out ‘The Divine Comedy’? Both at the campus and at any local library.”

JJ stands, seeing what Emily is thinking. “I can find out. Why would they check out a copy instead of just buying it?”

Emily shrugs. “This is a long shot on a lot of levels but it’s worth checking out.”

“True. Okay, you head to the campus and I’ll see what I can do.” She leans in and whispers. “Between you and me, if we need to, we can get Garcia to do a ‘thing’ to get the info.”

Emily nods. She squeezes JJ’s arm and heads out with Reid.

* * *

An hour later, Hotch walks over to where JJ is drafting press release for the fire department. She looks up to see a very handsome man with him.

“Jennifer Jareau meet Andre McClean. He will be taking over as head of the BATF team.”

JJ stands and extends her hand. “Good to meet you. Are you up to speed on all that’s happened this morning?”

“Yes. Agent Traina called me soon after the explosion. Our section chief called me when he removed Peterson from leading the unit.” He sighs. “I hope I can fill her shoes.”

“I hope you can wear your own shoes and be a better agent,” Hotch says sincerely. “Remember, our jobs are about saving other people’s lives, not filling our personnel files with accolades.” He looks at JJ. “I’ll be on a conference call with Straus and the Director. Let me know if you need me.”

“Right, Hotch.”

JJ watches as he walks away. McClean asks JJ what she’s working on and she tells him. “Would you like to read it? Might be good to get a fresh set of eyes on it.”

“Sure.”

He takes the paper and begins to read. She uses the time to study the man. His close-cropped dark hair is similar to Hotch’s. Light brown eyes match his lightly tanned skin. By his complexion, she’d guess it’s natural versus being a vanity fake bake. The cut of his suit cleverly conceals a well built physique. A look at his hands makes her wonder: football player?

He finishes reading the release and hands it back to her.

“Looks good to me. Says a lot by saying nothing. No outright lies, no hard truths either. You must do this a lot,” he says with a charming smile.

“A lot more than I’d like to. It’s a necessary evil of the job,” she admits. She gets up to fax the release over to the fire chief. McClean can’t help but follow her ass with his eyes.

“ _This assignment might not be so bad after all_ ,” he thinks to himself. “ _At least the scenery is nice.”_

He doesn’t notice the dark-haired agent staring daggers at him as he stares at JJ’s backside. Emily pops her neck to the side, telling herself JJ’s a beautiful woman and it’s not uncommon for people to notice that. But for some reason she does not like the predatory gleam in the BATF agent’s eyes.

“ _Jesus, Prentiss, she’s marrying you in a week. Get over it_ ,” Emily scolds herself. She follows Reid into the conference room. She looks back once more towards JJ and sees her smiling and talking to the agent. Emily rubs her stomach as jealousy makes it do a flip.

“You’re a bonehead, Prentiss,” she mutters to herself.


	13. Chapter 13

Rossi and Morgan stare at the crater behind the farmhouse. Traina climbs up the ladder that they had dropped down into it.

“The good news is there’s still a few things not completely destroyed. We should be able to trace their serial numbers to figure out where they came from.”

“And the bad news?” Rossi asks.

“There is still a lot of unstable ammo and explosives down there. We need to evacuate the area until we can get an Army ordnance team down here to check everything out,” she says, dusting off her hands.

“Okay. Can your agents keep this area secure?” Morgan asks.

She nods. “Yeah. No problem.”

“Then how about the three of us head out to talk with your informant?”

“Sure. But I got to tell you, Peterson may be a grade a bitch but she’s good at interrogation. She knows what to ask and how to ask it. I don’t know how much more you will get out him.”

“We don’t just listen to the answers we look at the micro-expressions, the little tells that can show us when someone is lying or nervous,” Rossi explains. “Sometimes those tell us more than anything and allow us to pressure them a little more by convincing them we know more than we really do.”

“Cool,” she nods. “Let’s go see you work your ‘mind games’ as Peterson called them.”

The three get in her sedan for the trip back to the station. Morgan leans forward from the backseat.

“Tell me if I’m over the line but you don’t seem all that upset that Peterson is gone?”

Traina takes a deep breath, considering her answer. “I’m sure it’s similar in the FBI but the BATF is a really big ‘good ol’ boys’ club. To rise to her position Peterson had to do things twice as good twice as fast as the guys. And there were still plenty that said she only advanced because they had to promote a woman. She’s a good agent and a good unit chief. This case was tossed to us because the last team made some mistakes. She was told to solve it quick or she’d be gone.” Traina sighs. “Missing that storm shelter…that probably ends her career even though she wasn’t the unit chief on site.”

“Who was?” Rossi asks.

“We took over the scene from the previous team. A guy named Grady was in charge. We assumed he did his job out there. _I_   assumed he did his job out there,” she corrects. “Peterson is paying for my mistake.”

Morgan sits back, wondering if perhaps Hotch had been too hasty in getting Peterson pulled from the case. He also doesn’t like the fact that their team had not been told they were dealing with a secondary investigative unit instead of the primary. He cocks his head to the side and looks back at Traina. “Why do you all split up your team the way you do? Do you ever come together to brainstorm or work things up?”

She shrugs, understanding his question. “Some teams work like yours do but ours didn’t. I think Peterson preferred to be the only filter for our ideas. Self-preservation, I’d guess.”

Morgan nods again, keeping silent until they arrive back at the precinct. He was not surprised that Rossi hadn’t commented. He knew the older profiler had taken in every bit of what was said and what was left unsaid. Hotch looks up at them as they enter.

“Good to see you are all okay,” he says.

“Yeah. Who needs caffeine in the morning when you have C-4?” Rossi asks dryly.

Hotch gives him a small grin. “Right. The informant is in the last interrogation room on the left. Emily and I will be observing.”

“Emily? This guy is Middle Eastern?” Morgan confirms.

“Yes. Egyptian. If she catches anything out of the ordinary, I’ll knock on the door.”

“Right. Let’s go chat, Rossi,” Morgan says, gesturing down the hall.

Hotch follows, stopping long enough to poke his head into the conference room. “Prentiss, we’re ready at interrogation.”

She stands. “Yes, sir. Be back soon, Reid.”

He just mumbles a response. So far the copy of “The Divine Comedy” the campus bookstore had seems to be working. But there is still a lot left to decode and it is slow going with just one person. Emily stares at his back, wishing she could do more to help the young genius. She shakes her head and follows Hotch down the hall.

* * *

“Sayed Amir, my name is Derek Morgan, this is Dave Rossi. We’re with the FBI and we have a few questions for you.”

“I have told the others all I know. I cannot help you.”

“You don’t even know what we have to ask,” Rossi points out casually. “Why not humor us? It will make our boss happy.”

Sayed shrugs his shoulders. “If I must.”

“You transported a large amount of weapons to a farm in Story City. We’d like to know who sent them and why.”

“I am just a courier. I gave the address where I picked them up and the name of the man who hired me. I know nothing more.” He starts to pound on the table. “I am being detained due to racial profiling. I know nothing!”

The four profilers study his micro-expressions. The man is lying. Emily stares at him a moment, then looks at Hotch. “Have we had Garcia run the information on the man who supposedly hired him?”

“No, the BATF handled that. Why?”

“Just a hunch. Maybe it’s more a bad memory. My first case, we ended up at Guantanamo Bay because he wanted us there. What if this guy is here for a reason? What if…shit, I don’t know. Maybe I’m just paranoid.”

“Go with your gut, Prentiss. It’s always served you well. You stay here and watch. I’ll get Garcia working on re-checking this guy’s story.”

Hotch leaves the room. Emily goes back to watching, something niggling at the back of her mind about this informant and his actions.

“How long have you been in the U.S.?” Rossi asks conversationally.

“You know the answer. Two years,” Amir answers impatiently.

“Yes, just making sure that was correct. Sometimes other agencies make mistakes. They aren’t as thorough as us. And sometimes they even just out and out lie to help bolster their cases.”

“Oh, and you in the FBI are such angels?” Amir sneers.

Rossi shrugs. “I didn’t say that. But we will find out why you’re lying to us.”

Amir straightens in his seat. “I am   _not_  lying!”

Morgan slams his hand down onto the table. “You sure as hell aren’t telling us the truth! Who else is in your cell? Where are they?”

“I am NOT in a cell! I am NOT a terrorist!”

“You’re lying!”

Morgan and Rossi keep pushing the man for 30 minutes. Finally he leaps up and screams.

“We will not fail in our mission! You will all fall to your knees and beg for forgiveness! Beg for your lives and I will make sure your death is quick! May God forgive you before you die!”

Emily’s eyes widen. Now she knows what has been bothering her. She storms into the interrogation room. Morgan and Rossi look at her in surprise. She starts to speak to the man in Arabic.

“ _Why ‘The Divine Comedy’_?” He doesn’t answer. “ _You use a Christian allegory on a man’s journey to Christ as a cipher. WHY?!”_

He slowly leans forward, a wolfish grin on his face. He answers her in Arabic. “ _Send these men out and I will tell you_.”

Morgan and Rossi look back and forth between Emily and Amir. Emily never breaks eye contact with the information. “Rossi, Morgan get out.”

Morgan shakes his head. “No way, Prentiss.”

“Morgan, trust me. Please. Get out.”

Morgan looks to Rossi who just shrugs. They trust Emily with their lives so they trust her with her plan. The men leave the room, standing at the two-way mirror to watch. The conversation continues in Arabic, frustrating them.

“ _Why a Christian epic_?” Emily asks.

“ _Why not_?” Amir says snidely. “ _The question is, how are you going to use what you know when all your information has gone ‘boom’_?” He waves his hands in the air to illustrate the word “boom”.

“ _You’re no Muslim extremist_ ,” Emily states. “ _My question is why are you so determined to make us think you are_?”

“ _Oh, enlighten me, Agent…Prentiss, was it? How do you know I’m not a Muslim extremist_?” he asks mockingly.

“ _I translated enough of the essays, lists and letters to know there were glaring mistakes; things Muslims would never say or write. You’ve also been in America longer than 2 years. And you’re not Egyptian. There is only one reason I can think you would go through so much trouble to establish yourself as a foreign terrorist_.” She slowly stands and switches back to English. “You’re a homegrown terrorist, all right. But you’re American. My guess is from here in the Midwest. You’re trying to start a race war but it’s not going to work.” She leans over the table. “You. Lose.”

The man’s eyes had gotten wider the more Emily had talked. Morgan and Rossi had seen the fury in his eyes. As the man leaps up towards Prentiss, Morgan races into the room and intercepts him. Emily gives the suspect an evil grin and walks out. She hurries down the hall to find Hotch in with Garcia.

“Hotch, we have a problem.”

Hotch looks up at her. “He’s not who we’ve been told.”

Emily stops, surprised. “Right. I know how I know. How do you know?”

Garcia looks at her, worry in her eyes. “I don’t know where they got his background but it matches absolutely nothing I’ve found. Sayed Amir doesn’t exist prior to 8 months ago. His whole background, visa, etc, was entered into the system at that time. They went so far as to put him on a watch list from 6 years ago.”

Emily looks at Hotch. “What the hell are we dealing with here?”

“Domestic terrorism at its worst,” he answers. “Garcia, get Kevin to help you hack that background. We need to know who put it in there and why.”

“You think it’s an inside job,” Emily states.

“I believe we have to treat it as such,” Hotch confirms.

Emily’s stomach does a flip. The only way Amir could have been so cleverly buried is if he had help at a government level. She momentarily flashes back to a time when a whole new history had been created for her. It was not easy to turn into someone else. You have to be committed to forgetting all about your family, friends, anything that made you who you are. And when you are that committed, it will take a lot to break you. Emily is sure they don’t have the time to break this man.

“Prentiss? PRENTISS!” Hotch’s voice finally breaks through her memories.

“Uh, sorry. Thinking. What?”

He stares at her a minute. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Fine.”

He studies her a moment then nods. “Okay. Get with JJ. The local media has started spreading the word that a local Muslim has been making anti-government statements. People are protesting his mosque. We need to reach out to the Imam and let him know we are not targeting him, his mosque, or his community. You’ve had experience with Middle Eastern religious leaders so you need to go with her.”

“Of course. We’ll be in touch.”

Emily heads out into the hallway. She takes a deep breath to try to shake away the clouds that invade her mind when her years as “Lauren Reynolds” pop into her thoughts. “Just breathe, Emily. Just breathe,” she coaches herself.

She heads into the conference room to find JJ sitting at the table reading something. Agent McClean leaning over her shoulder. Jealousy flares up in Emily again.

“ _I’m never the jealous type_ ,” Emily thinks. “ _Must be pre-wedding jitters or something. Geez_.”

She shakes her head. “Agent Jareau? You ready?”

JJ looks up, her eyebrow raised at the formal title. “Uh, sure, _Agent_  Prentiss,” she says with amusement.

The two women head out. In the SUV, which had finally been delivered earlier, JJ looks at Emily. “ _Agent_  Jareau? What was that about?”

Emily shrugs. “Well, you know…working with another team…I thought…I was just…” Her shoulders slump in defeat. “Fuck. I saw Agent ‘Hottie’ leaning over you and I got jealous. I’m an asshole.”

JJ chuckles. “No, you’re not. I find it kinda cute.”

Emily just rolls her eyes. “FBI agents aren’t ‘cute’. Sexy as hell, but not ‘cute’,” Emily states with a grin.

“Whatever. Just drive, Agent Prentiss.” JJ reaches over and takes Emily’s free hand, both enjoying the comfort the small amount of contact brings them.


	14. Chapter 14

JJ and Emily spend the rest of the day at the mosque, speaking with the Imam and some of his congregation, who had been angry about their religious leader being named in the press. By the time the women leave they have established a tentative peace with the mosque and have promised to keep them informed on the progress of the case.

They did not, however, reveal the news about the informant being a planted, homegrown terrorist. They know that would have been leaked to the press and right now it was their best lead.

“Emily, how was someone able to plant such a convincing back story about Amir?” JJ asks curiously.

Emily shrugs. “The right person can do whatever they want. And if investigators don’t have a ‘Garcia’ to dig out the truth that cover will hold.”

“It’s scary. What if we didn’t have a ‘Garcia’?” JJ ponders.

Emily smiles. “But we do. Let’s just focus on that.”

JJ turns and stares at Emily. “How did you know he wasn’t really Egyptian?”

“His Arabic was school form. You know how school form Spanish is a mix of several Hispanic dialects?” JJ nods. “Same with school form Arabic. If you don’t learn it from a native speaker  _as_  a native speaker you lose the nuances and regional idioms and pronunciations. It’s like someone learning English in England versus English in the United States.”

JJ nods, “I see. How are you and Reid doing with all the letters and essays?”

Emily sighs. “I wish I could do more to help him. Basically, he has to use that copy we bought to decipher what we have. Only then will we know if it’s the right edition or not.” Emily glances at JJ. “Did you get anywhere with library records?”

“Not yet. Still waiting on a call back. Who knew with the Patriot Act it would still be this hard to get that info,” JJ grumbles. “Maybe by Monday we’ll have everything. There’s no chance anyone will jump through hoops on a Sunday for us.”

Emily bites her lip, considering the evidence they have and the many questions that so far have no answers. She reaches over and takes JJ’s hand, her thumb caressing over the engagement ring. “I have a really bad feeling about this case, Jennifer. Please promise me you’ll be extra careful.”

JJ squeezes Emily’s hand. “I will. If you promise not to get blown up any more.”

Emily grins. “That’s definitely crossed off my bucket list so we should be good.”

The team has dinner at a local restaurant that night. For a couple hours they are able to relax, thinking about anything but the case. When they get back to the hotel, they agree to meet in the lobby at 9 a.m. the next morning to go back to the station.

In their hotel room, Emily pops on the TV. She scrolls through the channels until she finds an old 80’s movie. “Perfect. No brainwork required.”

JJ glances over and laughs and turns on a valley girl accent. “Radical, dude! I, like, haven’t seen ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ in, like, forever!” She tosses her hair comically. Emily laughs and shakes her head.

Suddenly, Emily and JJ look at each other, “Don’t be late for Mr. Hand,” they quote at the same time and burst into giggles.

“I guess no matter what country you grew up this movie is part of your make-up, right?”

Emily chuckles. “Actually, I never saw it until I got to college.”

“Really? You poor thing,” JJ jokingly sympathizes. “You had such a deprived childhood.”

Emily rolls her eyes. “Yeah, just what I was thinking.”

Emily grabs her pajamas out of her bag. As she goes to take off the shirt she is wearing, she groans and stops. JJ turns to her.

“Em?”

“I…I just realized I can’t lift my arms over my head,” Emily moans.

JJ frowns and walks over to her fiancé. She helps Emily ease out of the shirt. Her eyes widen as she sees Emily’s back.

“Oh my God! Em, oh, sweetie!”

“What?” Emily asks, turning so she can see her back in the mirror. Her eyes widen. “Damn! I guess that’s from landing after the explosion.”

“Brilliant deduction, Sherlock,” JJ teases. “Want me to get you an ice pack?”

“I guess so. That is not going to feel good tomorrow.”

JJ heads out of the room to fill the ice bucket. Emily stares at the oblong bruise that stretches across her back at her shoulder blades. She tries to remember exactly how she fell but she can’t. Based on what she sees, she guesses she probably impacted on her upper back before rolling to a stop. She grabs a couple of Aleve from her shaving kit and pops them with some water.

JJ comes back a few minutes later, grinning. “I ran into Reid and Morgan at the ice machine. You’re not the only one discovering bruises.”

Emily laughs. “Suddenly I feel a bit better.”

She lays down on the bed, her head towards the end so she can watch the movie. JJ places a hand towel on Emily’s bare back and then ties off the bag from the ice bucket. She lays it carefully across the towel, trying to cover as much of the bruise as possible. Emily jumps at first from the cold but then settles, knowing this will help in the long run.

“Thank you, Jennifer.”

JJ leans down and kisses Emily’s shoulder. “No problem, baby.”

JJ grabs a pillows and mirrors Emily’s position on the bed. Hands entwined, they lose themselves for a little while in the silly tale of life at an very untypical 80’s high school.

* * *

 

Sunday sees JJ putting to rest more rumors and outright lies. Reid and Emily continue their work with the information they have. Morgan and Rossi help them as best they can. Hotch spends the day in calls with Washington. Seems Straus and her counterparts work Sundays when their people are not performing “up to agency standards” as Straus was fond of saying.

Garcia had been frustrated with the second two computers. They had a security feature that generates new walls every time she knocks one down. And once that new wall was created, she only had 3 seconds to knock it down or it resets the original passwords, sending her back to square one.

She had spent Saturday night working on a program to battle this system. It took her 3 hours to get it loaded and ready to go. It would take two computer geniuses to work the program.

“Are you ready to play, Pumpkin Tart?” She asks her earpiece.

“Ready when you are, my Strawberry Muffin,” Kevin Lynch replies.

“Good. Launching program in 5-4-3-2-1!”

Her fingers fly over the board, knocking down the first wall. As she is typing, Kevin, who is networked into the computer, is already working on the second barrier, as Garcia’s program is built to predict the next level up. It will still take precision timing to make it work. And it will take Garcia’s program getting “smarter” with each failure. It takes an hour but they finally break through the first computer.

“VICTORY!” Garcia screams, leaping up from her chair. “Great job, baby cakes!”

“You, too. Penelope, do you know how turned on I get when you hack so amazingly?” Kevin gushes.

“Same for me, Kev. I need to let Hotch know we’ve cracked this computer. I’ll call you when I’m ready to hit computer number 2.”

“Sounds good. Love you!”

“You, too.”

She disconnects and heads out to find Hotch. She sees him briefing with McClean. He notices her wiggling like a child with a secret. He raises an eyebrow.

“Yes, Garcia?”

“It worked! We’re in the first computer!”

He smiles. “Good job! What do you have so far?”

“We literally just got in. Do you want us to crack the other one first or get this one’s information?”

“Which would be easier?”

“Well, if we crack the other one, Kevin and I could each pour through a computer for information to get to Reid and Emily. And before you say I know better than him what to look for, I know that, sir. But he would find some and then I could go back and recheck when I’m done with the one computer,” Garcia explains.

Hotch nods. “Okay. Crack the other one. And tell Kevin I’ll make sure his hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.”

Garcia smiles proudly. “Thank you, sir.”

Garcia heads out. McClean stares at the woman, whose blonde hair has blue streaks in it. Her vibrant clothes and ostentatious jewelry is always a shock to people that don’t know her. McClean looks at Hotch.

“My guess is she’s not a full agent?”

Hotch chuckles. “She’s our technical analyst. And I wouldn’t trade her for all the agents in the FBI.”

McClean just nods, knowing his old boss probably didn’t approve of the way out of the box woman. But as far as McClean was concerned, if she was as good as it seemed, he’d be glad to work with her.

By mid afternoon Sunday, Emily has translated the last of the papers they’d been given from the first two computers and Reid has deciphered them. Those two plus Morgan, Rossi and JJ stare at the coded information.

“The biggest problem we have is so much of this isn’t in chronological order,” Rossi complains. “For instance, this one here,” he points to one passage, “tells them to secure a gateway for the gift. Obviously the gift is a bomb, right? But is the gateway referring to the farm gate or is it the entry to the target?”

Emily shrugs in frustration. “I don’t know! I’m sorry we don’t have everything we need, Rossi. I wasn’t thinking about grabbing papers while running for my life!” She says, her anger rising.

Rossi spins on her. “Maybe you should have! You   _do_   realize we needed that info, right?”

Emily steps towards him threateningly. “I didn’t exactly see you—”

“Whoa! Hey! Hold it, you two!” Morgan says, stepping between them. “We’re all tired, hungry, and frustrated. No need to take it out on each other. No one did anything wrong out there. We’re alive and that’s all that matters.”

Rossi sighs and steps back. Emily runs a hand over her face.

“Dave…I’m sorry,” she says contritely.

“Me, too, kid.” He pauses. “I think this is when we’re supposed to kiss and make-up, right?” He says with a grin.

Emily laughs, “How about we just move on like it never happened?”

Rossi shrugs. “Well, okay. Wouldn’t want to ruin you for JJ,” he says with a wink.

And just like that the tension in the room is gone. With fresh eyes, they start to look over the coded missives again.

* * *

 

“Hi, Agent Grady. I thought you got called back to D.C.?” a young officer says, as he passes the agent in the parking lot.

Grady smiles. “I forgot something.”

The officer just nods, accepting the answer. Grady makes his way into the building. From the lobby, he scans the squad room. He sees McClean and Hotchner discussing something with Traina. He sees the rest of the FBI team in the conference room, looking at what he can tell are decoded parts of the terrorist cell letters. He sneers but they are not his concern.

His gaze turns towards the office almost immediately across from him. Its door is shut, all the blinds pulled. He fingers the key in his pocket and moves casually towards his goal. He tries the door and is surprised to find it unlocked. He walks in, startling the strange woman behind the many computer screens.

“Can I help you?” she asks.

He closes the door and locks it. He pulls out a gun and aims it towards Garcia. The analysts’ eyes widen and she pushes away from the table.

“What are you—what—why—who—”

Out in the squad room, everyone jumps as multiple shots are heard coming from behind Garcia’s door.


	15. Chapter 15

Morgan is the first agent out the door. He doesn’t even realize every gun in the squad room is pointing at him as he races to Garcia’s office. He bangs on the door.

“GARCIA!”

Emily, Reid and Rossi grab him and pull him away from the door.

“MORGAN! THINK! You don’t know who’s in there shooting!” JJ shouts at him.

“Garcia is IN there! That’s ALL I care about!”

A moment later they all hear the door unlock. The BAU team lets Morgan go, now pulling their guns and facing the door. It slowly opens and a man they have never seen before steps out. In his hand is a gun, its slide locked back in the empty position. He hits the clip release button, letting it fall to the floor. He drops the now harmless gun, he wears a satisfied grin on his face.

Morgan holsters his gun and leaps forward. He spins the man around and slams him into the wall, beginning the process of taking him into custody. Emily and JJ race past him into Garcia’s office.

“PEN!” JJ shouts.

They see Garcia standing in a corner, shaking, tears streaming down her face. JJ runs right to her best friend.

“Pen, did he hurt you? Pen? Talk to me! Are you hurt?”

Emily stares at the computers…or what remains of them. “Holy shit…”

JJ grabs Garcia’s face and forces her to look into her eyes. “Penelope, can you hear me?”

“He…he shot them,” Garcia says weakly. “He just…shot them. He pulled the gun and it was pointed at me and I moved but he shot them not me. And he just, God, JJ, he just smiled the entire time.”

Garcia bursts into tears again. JJ, relieved that her friend is not injured, pulls her close. “It’s okay, Pen. It’s okay. Come with me.”

She leads Garcia out. Only the BAU team know why this shooting is so terrifying to the analyst. All of them had heard the shots and flashed back to a night they thought they would lose their ray of sunshine to a bastard deputy. And the team also knows Garcia’s computers truly are her “babies” and their loss hurts her to the core. JJ leads Garcia into an interrogation room. A few minutes later Hotch joins them.

“Are you really okay, Penelope?” The use of her first name betraying how scared he is.

“I…I think so, sir. But, sir, we had just cracked the second computer and—”

“I don’t care about the computer. I care about you,” he says sincerely. “JJ, why don’t you take Garcia back to the hotel?”

Garcia shakes her head. “No, sir! I have to see if I can salvage anything from those computers. I need to go to a computer store and buy a couple new systems. We need the information and we—” The more she had talked the more frantic she had sounded, proof that she is badly shaken by the incident.

“Garcia! Look at me,” Hotch commands gently. “We can get you set back up tomorrow. Go to the hotel now and rest. We’ll all be back there soon. Okay?”

Garcia finally nods and allows JJ to lead her out. Hotch stares after them, finally letting out the breath he feels he’s been holding since he heard the first shot. He takes a moment to gather himself then heads down to another interrogation room. He meets McClean in the hallway.

“Hotch, that’s Agent Grady. Peterson took over for him.”

Hotch’s eyes narrow. “What the fuck?” he blurts out.

“I don’t know. But Peterson and her boss are on their way here,” he lets Hotch know.

“Great. Just what we need.” Hotch moves past him to the observation room. Emily and Reid turn to him. “I had JJ take Garcia back to the hotel. Has that bastard said anything yet?”

“No,” Reid answers. “He just keeps smiling. Morgan has done the bad cop routine, though I don’t think it’s an act this time. Rossi has tried to be his buddy. But he just remains silent.”

“We need a deep background on him. And our best weapon for that is shaken.”

“Call Kevin,” Emily suggests. “One, he needs to know what happened if Garcia hasn’t called him yet. And, two, he’s almost as good as her. He can at least get things moving even if she has to refine the search more later.”

Hotch nods and steps out of the room to call Kevin Lynch and scare the man more than anyone should have to be scared on a Sunday.

Emily stares at the fruitless interrogation a little longer. Finally she throws up her hands. “To hell with this.”

She walks out, heading back to the conference room to continue to work on the only things they have at the moment. Reid watches her go. He knows he should help her but he needs to clear his head. He wanders out of the observation room and out into the parking lot. He sits on the bumper of one of their SUV’s.

This whole case had been one brick wall after another. Usually by now there was a feeling of hope, of moving forward. But so far nothing. Their informant is a fake. A BATF agent is obviously not what he seems. Three of them are almost blown up. Garcia is nearly shot. Rossi and Emily nearly tear into each other. And Reid is frustrated that his mind has not been able to shuffle all the information they do have into the answers they need. He rubs his eyes in frustration.

“What the hell are we missing?”

“Agent Reid? You okay?”

Reid opens his eyes to see Traina standing in front of him. He shrugs. “Just needed to clear my head.”

“Is your analyst okay?”

“I think so. Just shaken up.”

“Good. Has Grady said anything?”

“Not last I saw.” Reid thinks a moment. “I need to see everything he left for your team.”

“Sure. What are you looking for?” She asks.

Reid stands up from the SUV’s bumper. “I have no idea.”

Traina nods in confusion. “Of course. I hope you find it,” she says with a chuckle. Reid just grins. Traina can’t help but notice how cute he is when he smiles. He notices her dimples and immediately thinks how cute they are. They stare into each other’s eyes for slightly longer than would be considered just friendly. Reid finally breaks the stare, clearing his throat nervously.

“Uh, well, we should…”

“Right. This way.” Traina blushes and leads the way back inside.

* * *

 

JJ finishes fixing the cup of tea and walks it over to Garcia. Garcia lays on the bed, talking into her Bluetooth.

“I’m fine, Kevin. JJ is taking care of me.” She pauses listening. “I love you, too.” She listens again. “I know. Hotch needs you right now. Thank you for helping the team.” She smiles. “I’ll talk to you tonight. Bye, sweetie.”

JJ smiles and hands Garcia the tea as she disconnects. “He okay?”

Garcia smiles. “He will be. Just mad he couldn’t be here to see for himself that I’m okay.”

JJ nods. “I know the feeling. But at least I got to see Emily soon after. And not just in a text pic.”

Garcia studies JJ a second. “Is it hard? Knowing she could get hurt?”

“Yeah, it is. But I know she’s had the best training, I know and trust the team, and I understand what she does because I do it, too. Kevin, well, he met you because you were…you know…and then this. It’s got to be harder on him.”

“I’m sure it is. But it’s not like I’m always with you guys dodging bullets. Usually I’m in my little office and even if I’m running scans for you he can come in and we can—” Garcia turns bright red. “Never mind.”

JJ’s eyes widen in amusement. “No, please, go on.” Garcia mimes locking her lips with a key. “So, wait a minute, Emily and I behave in my office but you don’t behave in yours? Doesn’t yours have the same security camera?”

Garcia laughs. “Yes. But I know how to put my camera feed on a continual loop of me working.”

“You’re evil, Garcia. I’m so glad you’re on our team.”

JJ ruffles Garcia’s hair, glad to see her friend starting to get her color back.


	16. Chapter 16

It is nearly 10:30. Emily and Traina had been pouring over the reports Grady had filed before being recalled. Reid was still scrambling to put the various translations in some sort of order. But, truthfully, without having the dates and times of the information learned on the farm it was hard to tell what had been sent when.

Emily is not surprised when her phone rings. What does surprise her, and scares her, is the code “Alleghany” on the caller i.d. Most FBI agents used codes instead of actual names on their phone lists just in case their phones fell into the wrong hands. Her heartbeat starting to race, Emily stands.

“I have to take this,” she says as she hurries out of the room.

Reid turns, concerned, “Emily?”

But the brunette ignores him as she answers brusquely, “Sandy? Alan? What’s wrong?”

Alan answers calmly, trying to alleviate the fear he hears in her voice. “Henry is fine, Emily. Just a little cranky.”

Emily had walked into the now empty office Garcia had been using. She drops down into a chair as relief washes over her. “Oh, thank God. Why is he cranky?”

“He’s a baby, Emily. They sometimes get cranky. The thing is he’s been yanking on my lip for 2 hours now. I’ve tried to fake that song you sing him but I think it’s a pale imitation and he’s not buying it. Now, I figured I had 2 choices: 1) let him stretch my lip out until it hits my chest or 2) call for the real thing. Please tell me you have a second to sing to him.”

Emily’s chest swells with pride. Tears well in her eyes that Alan would think to call her for something that seems so simple. She clears her throat. “I’ll give it a try, Alan.”

“Good.” Emily starts to hear Henry wailing tiredly. “Let’s just head in here with Sandy and Henry. I’m putting you on speaker, Em.”

“Hi, Emily. Please tell me you can help,” Sandy begs.

“I’ll try. Can you hear me, Champ?” Henry immediately quiets, his eyes searching for the mother he can hear but not see. “You have him in your arms, Sandy?”

“Got him cuddled up. He’s trying to figure out where you’re hiding,” she says with a chuckle.

Emily smiles. “I’ll explain when you’re older, Champ. Now, time to get you to sleep.”

She starts to sing the lullaby. In his grandmother’s arms, Henry stares a moment, then brings his fist up to suck on. Alan and Sandy exchange a smile. By the time Emily reaches the last verse, Henry is fast asleep.

Alan takes the phone off speaker, leaving the room so Sandy can get Henry settled in the crib. “Emily, it worked like a charm. We may need you to make a cd.”

Emily smiles proudly. “I’m glad I could help. Feels good to be useful.”

Alan frowns. “Bad case?”

“Very. And I can’t figure out the damn clues we have and all I can think is I’m going to miss something and we’ll be stuck here and JJ will miss her own wedding. God, I feel like I’m letting her down.” She takes a deep breath, surprised she had revealed so much. She blames it on being tired.

“Emily, I’m not going to pretend to understand everything you do or your team does. But I do know you are not going to let anyone down. I know you will do everything in your power to join with my daughter next weekend. And she knows that, too. And if you miss it? So what! You two don’t need a piece of paper or a ceremony to know you’re married.”

Emily wipes the tears from her cheeks. “Thank you,” she says quietly.

“I love you, Emily. Take care of yourself. And Jennifer.”

She smiles. “I will. Always. I love you, too, Alan.”

She disconnects the phone and sits with her head in her hands, elbows braced on her knees, for a moment. She is so lost in her emotions she hadn’t heard anyone enter the office and close the door. She slowly looks up as feet come into view in front of her.

* * *

 

Just after 10, Morgan and Rossi return to the hotel. Grady had never said a word to them. They knock on Garcia’s door to make sure the analyst really is okay and to give her an update.

“Hey, guy,” JJ greets them. She looks beyond them and raises an eyebrow. “Emily and Reid?”

“Still working on their coded letters,” Morgan states. “This has become personal to them. They won’t stop until something cracks.”

“Yeah, either the codes or their heads,” Rossi notes dryly.

JJ sighs. “Give me the keys, Morgan. I’ll go try to talk some sense into them. You two stay with Pen. She’s better but, well, you know.”

Rossi pats JJ’s shoulder. “We know.”

Morgan drops the keys into JJ’s outstretched hand. “Go get ‘em, Mom.”

JJ just rolls her eyes and heads out. When she enters the precinct some time later she sees Reid still working on his board of translations and, to her surprise, Traina also working on something in the room. She doesn’t see Emily and figures her fiancé is either in the bathroom or getting coffee.

As JJ heads towards the room to ask Reid, a soft song catches her ear. She would know it anywhere but it shocks her to hear it. She listens a moment and figures out it’s coming from what she considers Garcia’s office. She walks towards the door, listening as Emily sings an Italian lullaby into her cell phone. JJ is confused but she loves hearing Emily sing the song so she doesn’t announce her presence.

When she hears Emily’s side of the conversation, emotions well up in her. Her parents had called Emily to help with Henry. She is overcome with love for her parents, her son, and her Emily. _Her_   Emily. She is still stunned at times just how much she loves the profiler.

When she hears Emily start to breakdown, her own heart starts to break. She quietly eases the door closed and locks it. When Emily finishes the call, JJ approaches her. Emily slowly looks up.

“Jen? What are you doing here?”

JJ kneels down in front of her. She runs a hand down Emily’s cheek. “I love you.” She leans up and gives Emily a gentle kiss. “You are not letting me down. Ever. Even if we don’t get back in time for our wedding you will  _not_  have let me down. Do you understand me?”

Emily slowly nods. “But I just feel so helpless.”

“Emily, we have the information we have because of your work. We will use that information to end this case. Of that I have no doubt.” She takes Emily’s hand and kisses it again.

Emily stares into JJ’s eyes, which are full of love and trust. “How…how long were you here?”

JJ smiles. “I heard you singing to Henry and then talking to my father. Have I told you lately how much it means to me that you love my son and my parents so much?”

Emily smiles, caressing JJ’s cheek. “Not lately. But you say it enough. They are all very, very easy to love, Jen, because they are part of you. Have I told you that lately?” She asks with a grin.

JJ pulls her into a hug. “Not lately, But you say it enough,” she echoes Emily, making the dark-haired woman chuckle. After a few minutes, JJ pulls back. “Come back to the hotel. You and Reid both. You won’t be any help if you exhaust yourselves.”

Emily goes to argue but knows she can’t. She stands, pulling JJ into another firm hug. “I love you, Jennifer Jareau. With everything in my body and soul, I love you.”

“I love you, too, Emily.” After a moment, JJ eases away and pulls Emily towards the door. “Let’s go get Spence and get you to both back to bed.”

“Whatever you say, Agent Jareau. Whatever you say.”


	17. Chapter 17

At 8 a.m. Hotch is in a meeting with Sophia Peterson and her boss, Phillip Amaro. By 8:15 Hotch is ready to throw them both through a window.

“So you suspected Grady the entire fucking time and didn’t bother to tell us?” He glares at Peterson. “Is this why you withheld certain information from me and acted like an ass?”

She raises an eyebrow. “First of all, I gave you enough information for you to play your mind games. You had what you needed for the genius and the linguist to work up some real leads for us. We’d have even more if your agent hadn’t blown up the damn farmhouse and all the rest of the leads.” She pauses to take a breath. “And second, I  _am_  an ass. That was no act. Deal with it, Hotchner.”

Hotch is caught off guard by that admission. He actually feels a bit of respect hit him and it nearly makes him sick. “Regardless of all that, Grady was a danger and he was not detained properly. He could have easily killed our technical analyst. And had he known she’d already downloaded all the information from the computers he would have killed her to delay the search of those files. I, at the least, should have been told you suspected him.”

Amaro raises a hand to stop Peterson’s retort. “Listen, Hotchner, you’re being told now. It made me sick to think an agent could have fallen at his hands. And I do apologize for the near death experiences your team has suffered. I am about to let you and your team in on information gleaned during a 9 month investigation of Grady. Maybe it will help you all break him so we can end this damn thing before it starts.”

Hotch stares at the man. He knows it would be foolish to trust Amaro completely. But it would be suicide to not trust him and the information he is willing to impart. Hotch nods. “I’ll tell the team to meet at 10. We can bring you two up to speed on what we have and what we are working on. Sound good?”

The two BATF agents nod. Hotch turns and heads out to let the team know about the upcoming meeting. He nearly collides with JJ, who was running into the office to get him.

“Hotch! Somehow people have come to believe the mosque Emily and I visited is harboring terrorists. There is a mob scene down there. Mosque members are barricading their steps against the people trying to get in and make a citizens arrest. The police have dispatched all available units, including their SWAT team to try to take control.”

“Son of a bitch,” Hotch mutters. “Let’s go.”

Twenty minutes later, Hotch and his team and Peterson and her team are at the scene, Kevlar vests on just in case. Hotch and Peterson approach the SWAT commander.

“Lieutenant O’Brien? Aaron Hotchner, FBI. This is Sophia Peterson, BATF. Is there anything we can do to help?”

The lieutenant rubs a hand across the back of his neck, not liking interference from the agencies. “Nope. We’re good. Have a nice—”

“Don’t be a jerk,” Peterson starts. Hotch raises a hand to stop her.

“O’Brien, my team is trained in negotiations and can help you defuse this situation before it escalates into violence,” Hotch explains. “We don’t want to step on any toes but you have two very angry groups of people. Let us try to help bring this to a peaceful end.”

The SWAT commander looks like he is going to refuse the help but he finally relents. “Fine. You can take lead. But understand, my men will be ready to use force if necessary.”

“I understand.”

Hotch heads back to where his team is gathered. He sees JJ is already working with the police spokesperson to get the right statement out to the quickly gathering press. Hotch looks at Rossi.

“This could get ugly quickly. We need to calm both sides down without tipping our hand about the real nature of the terrorists.”

Rossi slowly nods. “I know what to say to those on this side of the street. But as long as ignoramuses are still hurling racial insults at those at the mosque it may be hard to convince that side of the street that everything will be okay.”

“I can do it,” Emily states before Hotch answers Rossi.

Hotch looks at her instead. “What?”

“I know what to do to reach out to them. Christ, Hotch, how many riots do you think I witnessed as a kid over there? Trust me, I know what to do.”

“What will you do?”

Emily tilts her head to the side, “Uh, it’s probably best you have plausible deniability. I  _will_  say you won’t like it.” She tilts her head the other way, her face showing her concern. “And, well, Jennifer’s going to hate it.”

Rossi chuckles. “Let’s hope she stays busy with the press then.”

Hotch has a feeling he knows what Emily is going to do. And she’s right: he won’t like it. But he nods. “Be careful.”

She nods. “I will be.”

She walks away from the group, grabs something from the SUV, and then ducks under the police barriers that had been set up to keep the two warring factions separated. She walks into the middle of the street and stops. She slowly reaches to her hip and pulls her gun, holster and all, off her belt. She makes sure the men in front of her see it as she places it down on the road. While down there, she lifts her pant leg and removes her clutch piece, laying it on top of her other gun. She lifts her other leg to show no weapon on that leg. She then stands and removes her Kevlar vest.

Back at the press, a cameraman sees her and points. “What the hell is she doing?”

JJ turns and sees Emily walking unarmed, unvested towards the mosque. Her eyes widen and she races towards her team.

“HOTCH! What the fuck?!”

Morgan intercepts the blonde before she can tackle their boss. “Easy, JJ. She knows what she’s doing.”

JJ can only watch as Emily reaches the steps of the mosque. She bows her head, pulling a scarf out of her pocket and wrapping her head with it.

“I wish to speak to the Imam. Please let him know it’s Agent Emily Prentiss.”

The men stare at her a moment. One man finally steps inside. After five minutes, he returns and nods. Emily walks up the steps and into the mosque.

For two hours, Rossi speaks with those that had gathered. Gradually some begin to listen to what he is saying and start to disperse. Finally only the most racist remain, sure the Imam should be arrested simply for existing. A sudden ripple of noise in the crowd makes Rossi turn and look to the building. He smiles as Emily walks out.

The agent gets to the bottom of the steps and a man grabs her arms. Her team members tense, wondering what is about to happen.

“If you really cared about us, you’d arrest those men who hate us simply for what we believe.”

“I wish I could,” she says sincerely. “But unless they do something to physically harm you or your home or your mosque, our hands are tied.”

The man gets right up in Emily’s face. “They spray painted “Terrorist Go Home” on the front of my store. They knocked out my car headlights with a baseball bat. They threw excrement at my son as he walked home from school.”

Emily’s eyes narrow in anger. “Did you report these things?”

“I did. The police chalked it all up to teenage pranksters. _No one_   cares about us   _except_   us. You walk in here and say nice things to the Imam but do you really do a thing to help us, Agent?”

Emily slowly reaches into her back pocket for her credentials. From behind her photo i.d. she pulls a business card. “I will look into those reports personally. Those aren’t pranks, they are hate crimes. And they will be paid for. If anything else happens, call me and I promise you there will be action.”

“Why should I believe you?” he sneers.

“Because I’m asking you to,” she says honestly.

The man stares at her, looking deep into her eyes. Finally, he takes the card and looks at it. “I will believe you, Agent Prentiss. But I will only give you one chance to live your word.”

“I will only need one chance. Peace to you,” she says, bowing her head in respect.

The man releases her arm. Emily slowly turns and heads back out into the street. She stops, keeping her back to the mosque as a sign of trust as she rearms herself. She keeps her Kevlar in her hands as she moves back to the police barricade. As she ducks under it, the first eyes she sees are JJ’s, their blue looking more red.

“Everything is okay. The Imam will call them inside in a few minutes, once he has finished his prayers.” Emily turns and faces the SWAT commander. “Lieutenant, who would I talk to about some vandalism and attacks with a racial overtone.”

The man think a second, “Well, I think Dabney handles those kinds of things. Why?”

“Because instead of helping a man who is being attacked because he is Muslim they wipe the crime under the rug as pranks. Maybe, _just maybe_ , if the police had treated those hate crimes appropriately there wouldn’t have been such a tense standoff here today. One side would have felt protected, and the other side would have known hate is not to be tolerated.”

The woman’s fury is boiling over. Even JJ can’t be mad at her when she sees how passionate Emily is about the injustice done to the man who had grabbed her. The agent moves past her team and heads climbs into an SUV, needing to be alone.

“They’re going back in,” Reid states. The others turn to see the steps of the mosque clearing. With the targets of their hate gone, the ones Rossi is talking to also start to leave. JJ sighs and heads over to make a final statement to the press.

Morgan heads over to the SUV and climbs into the drivers’ seat. He turns so he can look at Emily, who sits in the back seat, glaring at nothing.

“Damn good job in there, Prentiss. I have to say, I was worried things were going to get ugly.”

“Thanks, Morgan. I’m just getting so sick of the hatred and the senseless violence and the assholes who are supposed to serve and protect doing nothing to stop any of it. If we’re not careful they’re going to push us into another 9/11. And fuck knows we don’t need another attack like that!” Emily says passionately.

The two agents sit in silence a moment. Suddenly it hits them both like a Mack truck. “Son of a bitch,” Morgan mumbles.

“Could it really be so twisted? So murderously depraved?” Emily asks.

“I think so. It also explains the questions you’ve had about why ‘The Divine Comedy’ as a cipher,” Morgan confirms.

Emily opens her door. “REID!” The genius looks over. She waves him over and he jogs over. “Get in. I think Morgan helped us answer a huge question. If so, I think I know how to figure out the correct order of all the info we have.”

Reid eagerly hops in. Morgan hits lights and sirens to get them back to the precinct. Hotch wonders why but trusts his agents enough to let them go.


	18. Chapter 18

Morgan steps back as the genius and the nerd whip into action. They hardly speak just start to arrange and re-arrange and re-arrange again. By the time the rest of the team and BATF agents have gotten back, there are papers taped up all over the conference room.

“Oh, you redecorated. How quaint,” Peterson says sarcastically.

Morgan turns to look at her. “You can either shut your mouth and listen to what they have to say or get the fuck out. These two nearly died compiling this information and have worked nearly non-stop translating it, deciphering it, and getting into a timeline. What, exactly, have  _you_  accomplished, Chief?”

Reid and Emily are still working on their project but both smile with pride as Morgan defends them. Finally they finish and turn to the waiting agents.

“We need the information from the computers Garcia hacked to fill in the gaps,” Reid states. “That’s why Grady shot them up. Two computers received information while 2 sent them.”

“If two computers sent them, does that mean we’re looking for someone who helped Grady?” JJ asks.

“Definitely,” Emily confirms. “Four computers, four unsubs.” She points to a board with Grady and Amir’s pictures. “These two and two others. That’s why Grady just smiles. He knows there are two more people out there ready to carry out their plan.”

“And based on the report from the Army ordnance team, we know not all the Semtex and C-4 the BATF had been tracking was in that storm shelter. Otherwise,” he swallows nervously, “we’d have all been killed when it blew up.”

Peterson’s snide attitude had gradually changed as Emily and Reid had explained their epiphany. She wanders slowly through the room, staring at the walls and the guesstimated timelines of each bit of communication. “So, we can take a crack at Grady and Amir again with some more information,” she muses.

Emily steps forward and nods. “Yes but I’m not sure you should just yet,” she cautions.

Peterson spins around and glares at her. “Why the hell not?”

“Because we still have huge gaps. We need the information from the other two computers.”

“But those computers were destroyed,” Amaro points out.

Hotch looks at him. “Our analyst was able to download the hard drives of both to the servers at Quantico. She’s been working with an analyst there to bring up all the files we need.”

Amaro glares at Hotch, “She had no authorization to do that!”

“I authorized it!” Hotch tells him. “I don’t know how you all play it at the BATF, but at the FBI we follow ALL the leads we have, uncover ALL the clues we can and use EVERY tool in our kit. If you have a problem with that, I’ll be happy to have your agency removed from the case. Homeland Security can take over your end of the investigation.”

The two men stare each other down. Even Peterson is impressed that Hotch would be so bold with someone who is technically his superior. She knows he must believe in his team without reservation to put his career so far out on the line. The stand-off finally ends as Amaro turns and storms out of the room, mumbling about having Hotch’s badge. Hotch turns back to Emily and Reid.

“How long do you need?”

Emily shrugs. “We’re waiting on Garcia and Kevin at this point.” She glances at Reid, who nods. “But we believe we know the target they are looking to bomb.”

Hotch and Peterson are both stunned. Rossi shuts the door, knowing they don’t want anyone to overhear the rest of this conversation.

“As we all know, the 2001 Anthrax attacks used the so-called ‘Ames Strain’ of the bacterium. Now, nothing actually originated here in Ames, IA but an attack here is sure to bring references to those attacks.”

“But we know those weren’t really perpetrated by Al Qaeda,” Peterson points out.

“True. But with the right spokesperson talking to the media, the public could be led to believe that Al Qaeda is attacking Ames, IA to get revenge for what they perceived as a smear campaign by Americans,” Reid explains.

Peterson slowly nods, “Okay. I think I could almost see that happening. But what are they going to attack?”

“When Reid and I went to the bookstore to buy our copy of ‘The Divine Comedy’ we saw a sign for a talk by Tom Daschle, one of the original targets of the anthrax letters,” Emily tells them.

“When is this talk?” Hotch asks.

“Friday at 8 p.m.,” Reid answers.

“Then we have until Thursday to find the other two unsubs and stop this bombing,” Hotch states.

“And if we don’t?” Peterson asks.

“Then we get Daschle to cancel his talk. We can’t risk the lives of the Senator or the attendees.”

“Okay. So where is your analyst?”

“She’s in an undisclosed location working with her contact at Quantico,” Hotch replies.

Peterson’s face reddens. “You’re not going to tell me?”

Hotch looks her in the eyes. “No, I’m not.” His team smiles as he walks out of the room. Peterson, furious, storms out after him.

Agents Traina and McClean step towards Reid and Emily.

“What do you need us to do, Spencer?” Traina asks.

The BAU team all exchange grins at Traina’s use of Reid’s first name. The lanky man sees the looks and blushes.

“Um, well, really nothing right now. We really can’t move forward until we hear from Garcia and Kevin.”

She smiles at him. “Good. Then you can take me to lunch.”

His blush grows as Morgan’s grin gets impossibly wider. Reid straightens up, a nervous tic he has. “Yes. Sure. Of course. Call me if you need me,” he mutters to Emily as he follows Traina out of the room.

The BAU agents watch until the two are out of sight, then burst out laughing.

“Spencer? I thought I was the only who could call him Spencer,” JJ says, laughing. “I think I’m jealous!”

“Well, if it will make you feel better, I’ll take you to lunch,” McClean offers hopefully.

Morgan and Rossi muffle their laughter as they see Emily shoot bullets with her eyes at the man. JJ, ever the polite liaison, simply smiles. “Thanks, Andre, but,” she wiggles her engagement ring, “I’m happily spoken for.”

“Oh,” he says dejectedly. Then he grins. “Can you at least tell me he’s a bit of a jerk and not nearly as good looking as you?”

JJ laughs. “Uh, sorry. Not at all a jerk and she is drop dead gorgeous.”

“Oh,” he says. And then he catches the pronoun. His eyes widen. “Really? She?”

JJ nods. “Really. She,” she confirms.

“Damn,” he glances at Emily. “Any chance you want to heal my bruised ego?”

Emily blurts out a laugh. “You have no idea how little that appeals to me. Come on, Jennifer.”

Emily takes JJ’s hand, entwining their fingers as they leave. McClean stares at them, his jaw on the ground. He looks over Morgan and Rossi.

“Are they…you mean…they are…no way…”

Morgan just laughs. “Man, you never had a chance.”

Morgan and Rossi head out. McClean doesn’t move, still wondering if they were messing with his head or serious. “But they are both so HOT!” he laments ignorantly. With a forlorn sigh, he heads out to see if some other woman would be willing to help him pass some time.


	19. Chapter 19

Tuesday night Hotch stares at Emily and Garcia. “You’re absolutely sure?”

“Yes, sir,” Garcia says nervously.

Hotch sits back in the chair he has been using. “I was afraid of this. Does Reid know?”

“Not yet,” Emily tells him. “When Garcia started to piece things together, she came to me. We decided to make absolutely sure before saying anything to anyone.”

“So, the third unsub is a grad student in the English department,” Hotch states.

“Yes. Rossi and Morgan are awaiting an arrest warrant. They should have it first thing in the morning,” Emily nods.

“And the fourth is McClean? You’re absolutely sure?”

“Yes. All the emails track back to him. And the warrant executed on his home last night enabled us to get into his personal laptop. He wasn’t as careful about covering his tracks with that computer,” Garcia explains. “He probably thought he was untouchable.”

“But Amaro, Peterson, and Traina all came up clean?”

“Yes, sir,” Emily confirms.

“Thank God Straus came through for us for once and was able to get the BATF team checked out,” Hotch says with relief.

“True. But when Peterson finds out she’s gonna kick your ass,” Emily says with a grin.

Hotch just nods, a slight grin on his face. “See you at 7 a.m., Prentiss.”

Emily nods. “Yes, sir.”

* * *

 

Emily can still remember the first time she watched the 4th of July fireworks display in Washington, DC. She was 5 and she was with her parents in the rooftop restaurant of a swanky hotel right on the Potomac. The explosions of color seemed close enough to touch. They were bright and beautiful and loud.

But they had nothing on the fireworks that went off when Peterson and Amaro found out they had been investigated as being involved with the bombers.

She had volunteered to be with Hotch when he told them that they had been cleared but McClean hadn’t. She wasn’t there because she didn’t think he could take care of himself. She was there because no one likes to hear about a dirty agent. And to hear about two dirty agents is even worse.

Grady had been bad enough. But McClean? They had questions only she could answer quickly and concisely, having been personally involved in the discovery of the evidence against McClean.

Peterson paces the room, fury emanating off of her in waves. “I trusted that pompous bastard. All-American fucking boy turned domestic terrorist? It’s just hard to believe.”

Emily sighs, feeling for the brash woman. “He thinks he’s doing it for America. From what we’ve found, these men felt people were forgetting about the horror they felt on 9/11. They wanted to make sure people stood up and paid attention again; that people needed to feel that kind of fear again. A small mid-western town, an auditorium with a Senator and a bunch of college kids…it’s the kind of thing that would make people believe if it happened there it could happen anywhere.”

Amaro slowly nods. “Sadly I can believe that.”

“They were convinced if they kept their group small they could get away with it. It was a fluke that Grady was discovered. If your computer analysts hadn’t detected the software he installed on his agency laptop we would never have been out in front of this,” Hotch points out.

“I just don’t understand how these men found each other,” Peterson states.

“We don’t know yet. Once we have them all in custody, then we’ll know,” Emily promises.

“Sophia, call McClean in. Tell him we need his help with another interrogation of Amir. When we get him into the interrogation room we can safely take him into custody,” Hotch suggests.

Peterson nods and pulls out her cell. “McClean? We need your help. We’re going to take another run at Amir.”

* * *

 

McClean looks at the phone and shakes his head. “It won’t help, Chief. Let me run down this one lead first and—”

“Now, McClean. I don’t want these FBI dolts screwing this up any more than they already have. I’ll see you in 10 minutes.” Peterson disconnects.

McClean pockets the phone and shakes his head. It was only a matter of time before Amir gave in. He wasn’t as strong as Martin Grady. And McClean wasn’t sure how close the FBI was getting to Alex Morris but it was time to cut that one string. With the mission just two days away this was no time to take chances.

He starts to make his way to Morris’ office but stops. He quickly steps behind a tree. He watches as Morgan and Rossi lead a handcuffed Morris out of the building.

“Son of a bitch. The only way they have him is if they have me,” he realizes. After they are out of sight, he takes his phone out of his pocket. He pulls the battery out and tosses everything into a nearby trash can. “And if they have us, they probably know our target. Time for Plan B.”

He goes back to the trash and pulls his phone back out. He reinserts the battery but doesn’t turn it on.

“We may not be able to take out an auditorium of innocent little college kids. But I bet it will scare the country just as much when a whole team of FBI agents gets blown to Kingdom Come,” he reasons to himself.

McClean makes his way to the student parking lot. In under 5 minutes he is driving away in a stolen car, heading to where the rest of the explosives have been hidden to be prepared for the Senator’s speech.


	20. Chapter 20

It doesn’t take long for Morris to spill everything he knows. McClean had been right about him being the weakest link. Once he is confronted with Morris’ confession, Amir also quickly confesses, though he is smart enough to swear he thought they were going to bomb empty buildings so no one would get hurt. No one believes him and they all doubt a jury will.

“So, what do we do now?” Reid asks, sitting beside an angry Traina.

“We track him down and squash him like a bug!” Garcia volunteers.

Emily can’t help but smile at her friend. “Okay. But how, Garcia?”

The technical analyst is typing away at her computer. “Well, his cell phone has been off since his chat with Chief Peterson this morning so we can’t confirm where he is now. _But_   what I can tell you is where he’s been the past week.”

She turns her computer around. On the screen is a map of the area with a dozen or more red dots on it. Inside each dot is a number.

“What’s it all mean?” Traina asks impatiently.

“The red dots are cell towers. The numbers represent the number of times he has been near that tower and—Oh!” Garcia breaks off her explanation as a dot suddenly turns green. Garcia looks at Hotch. “Uh, sir? His phone is active at that tower.” She taps a few more buttons, activating the phone GPS. “And I know where he is!”

“Where, Garcia?”

Garcia gives them the map coordinates. Hotch looks at everyone in the room.

“His phone was off until now. I think it’s safe to assume he knows we’re on to him. We’re probably heading into a trap. Garcia can you get us a satellite image of—”

She spins the computer around again. “Already done, sir.”

“Looks like an abandoned warehouse or something,” Morgan observes.

“Let’s go,” Hotch says.

“Be safe, my pretties,” Garcia says as all the agents leave except for Amaro.

He steps to the analyst. “Will we be able to watch this live?”

“Yes, sir. As long as the satellite I’m locked into doesn’t move too far away we should see everything.”

He sits down beside her. “Good. Tell me, you ever think about switching to the BATF?”

Garcia looks at him and grins. “Are you kidding? They can’t tie their shoes without me.”

He just chuckles, thinking of the praise he had heard heaped on this woman. She may just be right.

* * *

A mile from the building, the three SUV’s pull over. They had confirmed there are 3 entrances to the building. Peterson looks at Hotch and nods, letting him make the assignments.

“Morgan, Prentiss, I want you going in the back. Reid, Rossi, Traina, you take the side door. Peterson, JJ, you’re with me at the front. If anyone gives the command to retreat, get your ass as far away from the building as possible. Any questions?” Everyone is silent. “Good. Let’s go.”

Just before they get into separate SUV’s Emily grabs JJ. “Be careful, Agent Jareau. I hear you have a big day on Saturday.”

JJ smiles at her. “Yeah, I have a little party I have to go to.”

They share a quick kiss and climb in their vehicles. Prentiss and Morgan drive in first to give them time to make their way around the back of the building, parking a safe distance away. They wait less than three minutes before they hear Hotch over their ear pieces.

“Move to the doors. No one enters until my command.”

Morgan and Prentiss move towards the door. There are no windows on their side of the building, something both agents really hate.

Reid, Rossi, and Traina move to the side door. There are two large windows on the side of the building. Rossi gestures to the agents, then the windows. Reid and Traina each move carefully towards a window to get a look into the building.

In front, Hotch is preparing to kick in the front door. JJ and Peterson flanking it. “On my mark, make entry,” Hotch says into his mike.

Rossi keys his mike. “Hold for a second, Hotch. We have visuals.”

Reid wipes a bit of dirt off the window. He leans close, trying to will his eyes to adjust the dim light of the warehouse. It is a large, mostly open room with lots of crates and boxes scattered around. In the very center of the room he can see McClean sitting on a chair, just waiting and staring at the front door.

Reid ducks below the window pane and moves towards the back of the building, hoping to be able to get a clearer view looking back towards the front of the building. He stands and again cleans years of dust off the window as best he can. His eyes widen at what he finally is able to see. He keys his mike.

“Hotch, it looks like the front door is wired. If you open the door the whole place will blow.”

“Shit,” Hotch mutters. He calls back. “Can you see the back door?”

Traina responds, “I can. I don’t see anything but McClean is smart. I can’t imagine he wouldn’t wire every door.”

Peterson looks at Hotch. “He has to know we’re out here. He had to have heard the Suburban’s driving in.”

Hotch nods, knowing she is right. They had to make entry. They had to stop this man but how do they do it without setting off the explosives?

Hotch, Peterson and JJ jump as Peterson’s phone rings. She is surprised to see McClean’s number on the caller i.d. “McClean? Why don’t you surrender before this goes too far?”

“It’s already gone too far. The only way to fix things is to move forward. And we can only move forward by remembering the past. People have to be reminded of the horrors of terrorism. This is their wake-up call.”

Peterson drops the phone, keying her mike. “RUN! RUN NOW!”

The agents all sprint away from the building. None get far before explosions rock the early evening sky. McClean had indeed wired all the doors, the windows and the perimeter walls.

Morgan and Emily are blown into the side of their SUV, the left side of her face shattering a window as his head and shoulders break the side view mirror. Reid, Rossi and Traina contend with the blast as well as shards of glass from the windows. They are tossed like rag dolls as they are cut by the tiny missiles. Hotch, Peterson and JJ are also tossed towards their vehicle. The two unit chiefs actually slam into it.

As a senior in high school JJ had been going up for a header in the state championship soccer game. A slightly taller defender went up against her. JJ remembered focusing on the ball and then rolling on the ground holding her face. The other’s girls head had slammed into JJ’s face, shattering her nose. In typical athlete fashion, JJ had convinced the coach to just shove a bunch of gauze up her nose and she’d kept playing, finally making the game winning assist in extra time.

After landing on her back on the ground, JJ lifts her head as pieces of the building rain down around her. As she sees one piece of brick coming towards her she flashes back to that game and that moment. In that split second she thinks, “All that money for a nose job down the drain.” And then blackness.


	21. Chapter 21

JJ groans. She feels a hand on her cheek. Her face automatically turns into the comforting touch. “Em?” she manages to say.

“No, sweetie, it’s Garcia.”

JJ opens her eyes and immediately regrets it. She groans again, squeezing her eyes shut against the blinding pain in her head. “Garcia?”

“Yes, honey. And before you ask, everyone is okay. You took the worst hit. A piece of the building got you right in the snozzola.”

JJ brings a hand up to her face, feeling the bandages across her nose and face. “Oh, God, Pen…the wedding. I’ll look terrible!”

Garcia can’t help but chuckle. “Trust me, baby girl, you will fit right in with everyone else.”

Garcia and Amaro had watched as the agents ran from the building. Garcia had screamed when the building blew. The flash from the blast had initially whited out the camera. When the visual had come back online, all Garcia could see were her teammates, her friends, scattered all over the ground. She takes JJ’s hand and looks into her eyes.

“You all scared the crap out of me, Jayje. I’m going to forgive you temporarily for the wedding but once you get back from your honeymoon I’m not going to speak to you for at least 5 minutes,” she vows.

JJ chuckles…then groans as it hurts her face. “I’m sorry, Pen. I promise to stop getting blown up.”

“Hmph. Emily said she promised you the same thing. Not sure I can trust you to keep that promise any better than she did,” Garcia says with a wink.

Just then, the object of their discussion walks in. JJ’s eyes widen as much as they can with the swelling around her eyes. “Oh, God, Emily! Your face!”

The entire left side of Emily’s face is swollen and bruised. There is a cut along her eyebrow with 5 blue stitches holding it closed. Emily manages a lop-sided grin.

“If you think I look bad, you should see the SUV.” She walks over to the bed, leaning down to kiss JJ. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’ll be fine. They gave me the good pain killers,” she jokes.

“And everyone else? What happened to them?”

“Well, let’s see. Rossi, Reid, and Traina are bruised and covered in about a hundred cuts of varying sizes and depths from the windows on their side of the building. Morgan took out the side view mirror of our Suburban and ended up with a huge gash across his forehead that took 14 stitches to close. Hotch and Peterson bounced off their Suburban. She broke two ribs. The right side of Hotch’s face pretty much looks like the left side of mine.” Emily laughs. “Our wedding pictures are going to look like someone’s Halloween Haunted House nuptials.”

JJ tries not to laugh but she can’t help it. “Oh, ouch, God that hurts. You know…you’re mother is going to kill you if she can’t splash our pictures in all the society pages.”

Emily grins. “Nah. She’ll just have them PhotoShopped.”

At 8 a.m. the battered and bruised (except for Garcia) BAU team is boarding their jet. Emily looks at JJ. “It’s Thursday, Jen. You do realize this is our last night together as an unmarried couple?”

JJ nods. “Yep. We should be planning a night of wild abandon before we become an old married couple with boring married couple sex lives.”

“Yep,” Emily nods. After a second she glances at JJ. “If you even think of touching me I’ll smack you.”

“Back atcha, Prentiss. Right back atcha.”

They laugh and try to find a comfortable position for the flight back home. The next night they would be staying at separate locations in preparation for their wedding on Saturday. Today they would be content to just be thankful they had both made it out of a madman’s terror plot alive.


End file.
